Mrs Valeria Kate Bedjabeng, an aspiring assembly member for Residential Electoral Area in the New Juaben South Municipality, has called for support for women aspirants in the district assembly elections. She said if women were supporting and voting for women who have defied all the odds to contest in an election, women participation in governance would have increased. She said there were many women, who were bold and had the qualities to lead but 'It's our own fellow women who makes it difficult for us to realise our dreams of going into elected leadership positions, especially at the assembly level.' Mrs. Bedjabeng, the incumbent assembly member of the area and the Eastern Regional Coordinator of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency as part of its 'Women's profile' initiative. She said women had peculiar qualities, which if well harnessed and given the needed support to increase their representation, especially at the assemb ly level, it would accelerate national development. She said statistics showed that in most of the constituencies, women outnumbered men but unfortunately women who offered themselves for elections lost to their male counterparts. 'This trend shows that women are not supporting their own, so am appealing to all women to go out in their numbers come December 19 and vote for me and all women contesting in their areas,' she added. Mrs Bedjabeng is one of the 165 women contesting in the District Assembly elections in the Eastern Region and is optimistic of being elected for the third time to represent the people at the assembly. Source: Ghana News Agency