Elections

All 151 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 Senate seats were up for reelection in the recent Australian parliament elections. The Labor Party, led by Anthony Albanese, beat the incumbent Liberal/National coalition government. According to preliminary results, the Labor Party is set to win 77 seats, giving it an absolute majority in the House.

Although the IPU has not yet received the final official figures, preliminary results suggest that the new Parliament will be more gender balanced with 58 women elected to the House, including 19 first-term MPs. Women now comprise 38 per cent of the House, up seven percentage points. Women were already the majority in the Senate at 53.3 per cent, but the election boosted their number to 57 per cent.

Click here to read the full article published by The Inter-Parliamentary Union on 8 June 2022.

Chan is a research associate at RepresentWomen with a focus on ranked-choice voting.

Last fall, New York elected a majority-women city council for the first time ever. This also happened to be the first time the city used ranked-choice voting and public financing. This is not a coincidence.

RepresentWomen’s research team is currently exploring the ins and outs of that election to uncover all the critical ingredients for such a historic outcome, and we’re looking forward to releasing a full report in June. As an appetizer, let's discuss the campaign finance aspects.

Click here to read the full article published by Fulcrum on 25 May 2022.

Kenya’s party primaries recently closed - a process for political parties to select candidates for the various elective seats in August’s General Election. Ann Nderitu, 47, heads Kenya’s Office of the Registrar for Political Parties (ORPP), which is responsible for registration and regulating of country’s political parties. She speaks to UN Women about the importance of good governance and the steps taken to ensure that this year’s election is more inclusive of female candidates. 

Why did you get involved in politics?

I’m passionate about governance and making things right and I want public service to be a reference point for good service. In 2007, I was an administrator in Limuru [20km from Nairobi, central Kenya] and was responsible for handling survivors of the post-election violence. I saw the suffering of women and children as people were displaced from Limuru or arriving there, fleeing from their homes. It was a desperate situation. That was the trigger - I decided I was going to participate in something that would prevent something like this ever happening again.

Click here to read the full article published by UN Women on 25 May 2022.

Professional women make up the largest voter cohort in Australia and their role was vital in giving Scott Morrison the boot.

It appears the Coalition misjudged just how many women there are in Australia.

Women hold the slim majority of 51% of the nearly 17 million Australians enrolled to vote — many of whom are angry, tired and fed up with feeling like their government doesn’t listen to them. Professional women —  the single biggest voting cohort this election — led the way in turning Liberal seats teal. 

None of this should be news to political candidates: poll after poll showed women were undecided about who they’d vote for, didn’t trust prime minister Scott Morrison, and weren’t happy with the Coalition. 

Click here to read the full article published by Crikey on 22 May 2022.

A record number of women will take their seats in the House of Representatives when the 47th parliament sits for the first time in July, but representation in the Liberal Party has gone backwards as it grapples with how to regain the faith of female voters.

Women will comprise 38 per cent of the chamber in the new parliament – the highest ever proportion on record – after at least 57 women were elected to the lower house, including 19 first-term MPs.

Click here to read the full article published by The Sunday Morning Herald on 31 May 2022.

'A proud moment for us,' says Dalit body after Midha's election; she represents the Labour Party.

New Delhi: Indian-origin politician Mohinder K Midha from UK’s Opposition Labour Party has become the first woman mayor of a local London council from the Dalit community.

Midha was elected mayor of west London’s Ealing Council for 2022-23 at a meeting Tuesday. She earlier served as the deputy mayor.

“We are so proud that Councillor Mohinder Midha has been elected Mayor of Ealing for the next year,” the Labour Party in Ealing said in a statement. According to the ‘Who Can I Vote for UK’, which is an official government website, Midha won with 2,272 votes.

Click here to read the full article published by The Print on 26 May 2022.