The Delta State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has made nomination forms free for female politicians who would be running for elective positions in the forthcoming 2018 local government elections in the state.
The party said the decision was to encourage women in the state to actively participate in politics.
It fixed nomination forms for male aspirants for the chairmanship seat for N1m and N200,000 for councillorship aspirants.
Speaking at a press conference in Asaba on Saturday, the Chairman of PDP in the state, Kingsley Esiso, disclosed that the party directed its local government chapters to reserve at least three slots of councillorship candidates for female aspirants across the state.
Esiso said money for the nomination forms were non-refundable.
He noted that in line with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s way of encouraging women, the party decided to offer nomination forms free of charge to female aspirants to encourage them to seek elective positions at the local government level.
Esiso stated that the party’s candidates for the January 6, 2018 council poll would emerge this month.
He added that though the party’s internal arrangements would reduce the number of aspirants through consensus or mock primaries at the ward and local government levels, there would be no imposition of candidates.
“We have asked our leaders to harmonize in their various wards. But that does not stop anybody who is not satisfied with the outcome of such arrangement from obtaining nomination forms to contest the party’s primaries,” Esiso stated.
