Tongan people are excited by the number of women running for Parliament Featured
4 October, 2017. The head of the Tongan Women's National Congress says people are excited by the number of women running in next month's election.
Lepolo Taunisila said most of the 15 women candidates had good qualifications, years of experience in various fields and that their participation was a blessing for Tonga.
She said the Congress was fully supporting the women in every way it could to achieve more successful results than in the past.
"We've looked at some of the shortcomings in the previous elections and we've looked at what type of campaign would be most relevant. So we've discussed that and tried to help them with door to door campaigning. That's how the people look at the candidates. They prefer them to come to their homes and get to know them better and their specific needs."
Lepolo Taunisila said women had a huge contribution to make to the development of Tonga and she was hopeful several women would be elected on 16 November.
Only one woman served in Tonga's last parliament.