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18 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 MARCH 2022 NEWS ELECTION 2022 LAURA CALLEJA ONE of the talking points for the upcoming general election has been the push to get more women to contest – out of the 178 candidates, 42 are women making up 24% of the 2022 can- didature. This is the first election where the gender corrective mecha- nism will come into play. If the under-represented sex com- prises less than 40% of all seats after the election outcome is known, the mechanism will kick in to elect a maximum of 12 additional MPs – six on ei- ther side of the House. Despite the Labour Party's efforts to garner women candi- dates, the result has only been marginal, with just 16 women coming forward to contest the 26 March election. The num- ber of women candidates is five more than the party fielded five years ago, making up 23% of its 2022 candidatures. In 2017, women candidates constituted 16% of the Labour Party's total candidatures. The Nationalist Party has 17 women candidates making up 24% of its candidatures. How- ever, this figure has remained stagnant and has not improved since the 2017 elections. Out of the ADPD's ten candi- dates, three of them are women or transgender. Christian-con- servative party ABBA has 14 candidates, four of which are women. Volt Malta's two can- didates are both women – and one of the four independent candidates is a woman. A candidate from Partit ABBA declined MaltaToday's offer to be part of this feature. NAOMI Cachia said she's running because she be- lieves that more young people should be at the forefront of politics and is ready to shake things up. "I'm passionate about social change and making people's lives better and brighter. There is noth- ing more that sets my soul on fire than knowing that what I'm working on and for is somehow changing people's lives for the bet- ter, especially if those per- sons are vulnerable per- sons." At 22, Cachia became the first woman President of the Labour Youths, which helped her realise that she could do what she loved most, helping people for a living. "If elected, I will be working directly for the people – and there is no job in the world I would be prouder to have than to work for Malta and Gozo's citizens – no matter who they are," she said. "As a feminist, as a so- cialist and as a progres- sive in the 21st century, it's only natural that the furthering of sustainable development and civil lib- erties are on the forefront of my priorities… I am a big believer in the idea that the ideas of the future must always have envi- ronmental sustainability at their core; however, we must also ensure that this sustainability is achieva- ble for all of us." Cachia said that Malta desperately needed more women at the table be- cause of their under-rep- resentation in leadership positions and to challenge the way things are cur- rently done. "I want to see us chal- lenge the idea that poli- ticians are to fit a certain mould." FORMER Eurovision star Julie Zahra said that she was always interested in poli- tics, albeit not being as vocal about it in previous years. "I studied sociology and poli- tics at university, and I was always involved behind the scenes during the EU ref- erendum. I now feel that I have the knowledge and experience to run now that I have a clearer picture of what Malta needs." Zahra said that the areas she champions the most are education and mental health. "Mental health is a subject that is very much close to my heart because I was once a bystander to the effects of poor mental health. As a country, there is a long way to go – and I want to help us get there." She says education was everything when it came to mental health, and that it was the public's responsi- bility to educate their chil- dren. The candidate said she got into politics to inspire her daughter and other wom- en. "Society is made up of both men and women, but for the longest time, the representation was lacking. The point of view of women was often not heard. Being a woman, being a mother is often not easy; we need more discussions around this," Zahra said. The push for more diverse representation in parliament Naomi Cachia Labour Party 7th, 12th districts Lawyer Julie Zahra Nationalist Party 4th, 8th districts Professional singer, teacher