“What has become of the great cause of the five-year term?
“Five months before the next presidential election, their question resonates like a bitter assessment.
285 women speak in a column published in the newspaper Le Monde on Monday, to demand "a wide-ranging response to sexual and gender-based violence committed by our representatives", while some elected officials implicated in cases of sexual assault continue their political mandates.
In the race for the supreme office, "three candidates or potentially candidates for the Elysee are already cited in numerous testimonies of sexual assault", recall these "women working in the political sphere, elected officials, collaborators, civil servants, association leaders, activists ”.
Among the signatories are the vice-president of the Senate and former minister of women's rights Laurence Rossignol, the deputy (FI) Danièle Obono or the Paris advisor Alice Coffin.
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"We demand that the political world finally take into account the #MeToo movement", relayed since 2017, which aims to free the voice of women.
"We urge the political apparatuses to listen to the victims and to do preventive work", write the signatories.
The latter are calling on elected officials to “sign en masse” a three-point commitment against gender-based and sexual violence in politics.
Mobilization everywhere in France on November 20
Calling upon the "parties and movements" and the "mayors" who are responsible for investing or sponsoring an exemplary candidate, the mobilized women ask to exclude "sexist candidates responsible for violence" and " prevent those who despise women, treat them as inferior, from competing for the presidency ”.
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The presidential candidates, the parties that represent them and the mayors are not the only ones targeted.
“Today, among the 577 deputies, some are perpetrators of gender-based and sexual violence,” the signatories still warn.
"How many elections will it take before the political parties assume their responsibilities to guarantee a serene working atmosphere within the government and parliament, a peaceful functioning of democracy and the protection of people who are victims of violence?"
"
Published ten days before the International Day for Combating Violence Against Women, this forum also invites mobilization next Saturday.
"We will march at the call of the collective #NousToutes everywhere in France", indicate the signatories, calling on each and everyone to join the ranks of the rallies this November 20.
