Elections

Despite historic gains in the past two congressional elections in the US, women hold just 27% of the seats. As Americans prepare to reshape Congress in the midterms, could Bolivia inspire change?

Bolivia is one of the few countries in the world where roughly 50% of lawmakers at every level of government are women.

This is no accident, but the result of an electoral law which requires half of all party nominees must be female.

Quotas were introduced in 1997 when just 9% of Bolivia's national parliament were women. Later on it was made part of the constitution.

"Lately we've seen certain countries backslide on women's rights," said Adriana Salvatierra, who was a senator from 2015 to 2019, and became the youngest ever president of Bolivia's Senate.

Click here to read the full article published by BBC on 18 October 2022.

Nigeria’s two dominant parties, ACP and PDP, have less than 6 per cent of their parliamentary candidates as women.

Women’s representation in Nigeria’s parliament is among the lowest in the world but could get worse based on the new list of candidates for the next parliament.

At present, only 7.3 per cent (8 of 109) of Nigeria’s senators are women while only 3.6 per cent (13 of 360) of the members of the House of Representatives are women.

Despite the low representation in the current parliament, the percentage of female candidates in the elections that produced the current lawmakers is higher than what obtains in the list for next year’s parliamentary elections.

Click here to read the full article published by Premium Times on 23 October 2022.

Polls predict that an independent candidate supported by the Pirates and Greens is likely to win the run-off against right-wing and ruling party-backed hopefuls to become Slovenia’s first female president.

Slovenia is heading to the polls to elect a new President on Sunday, with incumbent Borut Pahor not running due to term limits.

Polls suggest that no candidate will win more than 50% of the vote,  making a run-off between the top two candidates likely, tentatively scheduled for 13 November 2022.

For the upcoming first round, centre-right to right-wing candidate Anže Logar of former prime minister Janez Janša’s Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS-EPP) is leading the polls with about 30% of decided voters.

Logar is closely followed by Nataša Pirc Musar, a non-partisan supported by the Slovenian Pirate Party and SMS (European Greens, polling at about 27%.

Click here to read the full article published by EURACTIV on 17 October 2022.

First-time candidates vie with incumbents for 52 seats after government dissolved ‘Red Roof’ parliament to ward off no-confidence vote.

After a short and sharp 10-day campaign, voters in Vanuatu will on Thursday cast their ballots in a snap election to determine its 52-seat parliament.

The Vanuatu Electoral Commission, normally staffed by just eight full-time officers, has been working around the clock to ensure the smooth running of a ballot with a record number of candidates.

The Royal Australian Air Force has worked with the electoral office to deliver ballots. “It is a little bit difficult in Vanuatu,” the electoral office chairman, Edward Kaltamat, told the Guardian. “We have a lot of islands and not many roads.”

Click here to read the full article published by The Guardian on 12 October 2022.

Lebanese women are still excluded from the main decision-making positions in Lebanon, such as the presidency of the Republic, premiership and parliament speaker, despite their prominent presence in the human rights and diplomatic fields, and in international forums. There has also been improvement in female representation in the Lebanese Parliament in the last elections that took place in May 2022, with 8 women winning seats, in the best representation of women nominated and reaching the Parliament in the history of the country.

With the end of the mandate of Lebanese President, Michel Aoun, approaching on 31st October, the Parliament began its sessions to choose his successor, but the list of candidates is still unclear. However, it was notable that two women from outside the traditional six main political forces announced their candidacy for the presidency, namely Tracy Chamoun, the former Lebanese ambassador to Jordan, daughter of the late leader Dany Chamoun, and grand-daughter of the second President of the Republic in Lebanon after independence, Camille Chamoun. The second candidate is May Rihani, the Lebanese writer and expert in global development in the field of girls' education and women's rights.

Click here to read the full article published by Middle East Monitor on 12 October 2022

ASTANA – Human rights activist Saltanat Tursynbekova was nominated to run for the presidency by Qazaq analary – dasturge zhol (Kazakh mothers are a path to traditions) public association on Oct. 11, reported the association’s press services.

Saltanat Tursynbekova is a member of the Public Council of Astana and founder of the Kazakhstan without domestic violence social project. She is a human rights activist, who focuses on women’s and children’s rights. 

Tursynbekova’s election campaign will focus on the economy, industry, international relations, healthcare, education, social protection, entrepreneurship development, fight against corruption and violence, and reduction of offenses spheres.

Click here to read the full article published by The Astana Times on 11 October 2022.