Elections

One female candidate in the conservative north is raising expectations she could become Nigeria's first elected state governor. 93 million people are registered to vote in the country's elections on February 25. Nigeria is the most populous in Africa. It also has the continent's largest economy and is its top oil producer. But with rising inflation, high unemployment and insecurity in the northeast, a lot is at stake. Eighteen candidates are running for president, including a woman. And more than a dozen women are candidates for governor posts, while others are running for parliament at state and national levels. So will Nigeria's voters elect more women into senior political roles?

Source: Al Jazeera English

Half of Nigeria’s population are women, but only 4 percent were elected in the 2019 election. Will the 2023 election be any different?

Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria – On June 8, 2022, millions of Nigerians were glued to their phones, televisions, and other devices, watching the presidential primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Then something happened. Uju Ken Ohanenye, the only woman among the 23 aspirants, withdrew from the contest in favour of the eventual winner and national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu.

“I have decided to step aside for the lifesaver who is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” the lawyer and entrepreneur who had previously told journalists that “the touch of a woman is lacking in the governance of this country”, said on national television.

For some Nigerians, it was a step back for gender equality in the country’s politics but also a timely reminder of the many hurdles women face in attaining leadership roles in this vast West African country.

Click here to read the full article published by Al Jazeera on 16 February 2023.

Election Commission is drafting a bill to increase women’s candidacy in all three tiers of government by a third.

At least one third of the elected representatives in the federal parliament must be women, as per the Constitution of Nepal. The constitutional provision has been met so far by inducting women representatives through proportional representation.

The parties have always prioritised male candidates over female in the first-past-the-post (FPTP) elections. Despite pressure from women leaders from across the political spectrum, their share has always been low in direct elections.

Among 2,412 candidates for the FPTP system of elections for the House of Representatives in November, only 225 (9.33 percent) were female, while over 90 percent (2,187) were male. In the provincial assembly elections, only 280 of the 3,224 candidates for the 330 seats in play were women.

Click here to read the full article published by The Kathmandu Post on 2 February 2023.

Election monitors and activists express concern that digital harassment of female politicians will increase when the local council elections campaign gets into full swing in the coming weeks. According to the preliminary results of a survey conducted by the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE), more than 70 percent of female local councillors and grassroots political activists have faced digital harassment.

CaFFE Executive Director Manas Makeen said the majority of those who were subjected to digital harassment (around 80 percent) had not lodged complaints with the law enforcement authorities or with the political party leadership because they felt it was an exercise in futility.

“Even if these women politicians go to the police or their party leadership, there is no solution. They have to find solutions themselves. The introduction of the quota for women candidates at the local council level has upset some politicians and they have resorted to the digital sphere to undermine their female opponents,” he said.

Click here to read the full article published by The Island on 30 January 2023.

“During the election campaign, a new phase of pressure and harassment began, because accepting my candidacy alongside a group of men had angered them, or at least some of them, and also perhaps frightened them, because the idea of a woman winning in front of them, especially in the political sphere, is considered a blatant transgression. That's why they unleashed false rumors against me, like how I was using my workplace to collect tazkiya recommendations, and they filed a case against me. They were malicious accusations that never happened, so much so that I had to apply for leave throughout the campaign period, and I was very careful not to benefit from or take advantage of my work. They also tried to incite my family and husband against me so that I would not continue to run as a candidate, and leave the competition to only the men. The most dangerous part was the threatening letters that were sent to me through some relatives. They basically stated: ‘Withdraw your candidacy quietly. It’ll be better for you, or you will see something dangerous’. Also, my female co-workers who supported me were harassed as well.”

Click here to read the full article published by Raseef22 on 11 January 2023.

A new law in Sierra Leone will ensure that at least 30% of parliamentarians are women and impose similar quotas in other institutions, including government, local councils, the diplomatic corps and the civil service. The Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Act was signed into law by President Julius Maada Bio on 19 January, a few months before the country's next general election scheduled for July 2023.

The law highlights the importance of mainstreaming a gender perspective and women’s participation in decision-making roles across all areas. As well as in public institutions, the law also stipulates that at least 30% of jobs in the private sector should be held by women (for companies with 25 or more employees) and extends maternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks.

With the proportion of MPs who are women at 12.33% today, Sierra Leone is currently in joint 157th place in the IPU’s monthly ranking of women in parliament, well below the global average of 26.4%.

Click here to read the full article published by IPU on 26 January 2023.