The law provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercise this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage. A new electoral system, mixed-member proportional representation, was used in the October 12 general election with 27 political parties participating. Women and minorities are accorded full opportunity to participate in political life. There are also six ministers outside the Cabinet, three of whom are women. Governmental Attitudes Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights A number of human rights groups operate without government restriction, investigating allegations and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Government officials are cooperative and responsive to their views.
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of all the above listed factors, and the Government effectively enforces it. The law penalizes spousal rape. In addition, the Domestic Violence Act went into effect in July. This law broadened the definition of violence to include psychological abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment, and allowing children to witness psychological abuse. The law also provided some relief from the costs of legal aid and mandated stricter penalties for offenders.