LATAM: Uninominal System, a New Wall for Women to Scale

By Estrella Gutiérrez Reprint | | Print |

Estrella Gutierrez

CARACAS, Dec 8 1997 (IPS) - Latin American women see the new uninominal electoral system as a wall between them and power after leading the civil society movement which campaigned so heartily for it.

“Uninominality represents electoral privatisation,” stated Colombian liberal senator, Piedad Cordoba during a meeting of Andean political women in Venezuela in November.

The situation is the same throughout Latin America and the effects of uninominality “are perverse because the candidates who have chances of winning are those who have money for campaigns, which makes politics ‘elitist’ and corrupt,” she explained.

This situation will have a wide general impact, but specifically “victimises” women by annulling or reducing the impact of positive measures approved to promote equality through the party quotas system.

The non governmental Coalition of Andean Political Women arrived at the same negative conclusion for the public powers, following the first experiences of uninominal elections in their countries.

“It seems shocking to say so, but the party lists were the only factor that guaranteed more positive measures for women’s access to power, said Coalition co-ordinator, Venezuela’s Nora Castañeda.

But Cecilia Estrada of Bolivia said that even the resulting system had adverse effects for women, although this was hard to say publically as women led the fight for uninominality and the outcome is generally seen as a great democratic victory for the electorate.

“If we start condemning uninominality now they will string us up in public,” said Estrada, in a meeting of the Andean non governmental coalition.

“We didn’t realise,” said Ecuadoran Miriam Garces, in a conclave attended by IPS, where it became clear women are less able to raise the resources needed for campaigning in the new style elections, for they are new in politics and do not have the backing of economic interests.

The idea of nominal election replacing party lists was fought for as a way of “democratising democracy” by the civil society of the region – an arena where women are often very active given the barriers to formal power.

Nominal election represented a conquest on a par with decentralisation when compared with the discredited party- dominated system where responsibilities were diluted and the leaderships really chose who held the public powers.

However, uninominality is especially prone to the domination of candidates capable of funding ever more costly campaigns, whereas party politics limit the interference of this element, explained Castañeda.

The perverse effect is double, she added, because the resources available to men and women are not the same, and the female candidates are women who represent the national elite and do not have the gender perspective to promote equal opportunities.

“The women who participate do so as part of elite economic groups and they answer to this group,” she said.

“With uninominality the dominant culture that politics is men’s business is what works, whereby women do not vote for women,” said Castañeda.

Bolivian journalists Miriam Suarez received first hand experience of this when she stood as an independent candidate for a municipal post this year. “In the fight for female independence we didn’t realise we were competing with the power groups,” she said.

“I felt more out in the cold than ever because we women lack gender solidarity and we want things to change for us as a collective, but we do not use our power as electors to achieve this,” she added.

The result was “a tooth and nail campaign,” without resources and where, as a result, the male candidates allowed themselves the benevolence of praising her qualities as a social activist and innovator of proposals in public fora.

“Under uninominality women are penalised by a patriarchal model of socialisation which influences the vote just as much or more than the conscience,” and there is no way for “the positive action” or quotas of women to work, said Castañeda.

Bolivia was the third Latin American country to establish quotas for women in party lists after Brazil and Argentina, in line with world commitments on the matter, seeking to break through the glass cielings which keep women from power.

Ecuador and Peru also have a quota system, while in Colombia this commitment has actually been unconstitutional since 1991, when amendments prevented parties from preselecting candidates in any way.

A similar measure is about to be sanctioned in Venezuela, and it already an example of how the positive effect can be diluted, even before it has been used in the presidential, legislative, regional and municipal elections to be held within the year.

The electoral reform proposes 30 percent of the party lists must be women, but within the Venezuelan system half the posts in Congress, the state assemblies and the chambers of councillors are chosen uninominally.

This results in the real quota for women being 15 percent, and their presence is even further diluted in the Venezuelan case where the women can be put in any position.

It is a paradox then, concluded the Andean NGOs, that once the organised women’s movement broke with its rejection of formal politics, assuming access to power was essential in order to modify a discriminatory model of society and the achievement of quotas, this process was annulled by an achievement they had fought so long and hard for.