Elections

By Alice Kantor

Few feminist policies have been campaign talking points during the election.

On Sunday, the French head to the polls to elect their next president. After the first round two weeks ago, there are two candidates on the ballot: centrist President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen.

This year’s election is historic in the number of female candidates in the first round —  four out of 12 — including Le Pen and Valerie Pecresse, the center-right Republican Party’s first woman nominee. For all that, however, questions around women’s rights barely got a mention in the campaign.

The rise of the far-right, with nativist candidates like Le Pen, Eric Zemmour and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, has coincided with a toxic climate for women and minorities, who’ve struggled to be heard by the candidates. A petition signed by a group of feminists in February asking candidates to commit to addressing their issues was met with silence.

Click here to read the full article published by Bloomberg on 21 April 2022.

Just four women were elected during the 2022 general election but a deeper analysis also shows that women contesting on the Labour ticket obtained almost 20,000 first-count votes, which compares very well with the 14,000 first preferences obtained in 2017.

Just four women were elected during the 2022 general election – a disappointing result considering the push for more female representation in parliament had been a major talking point over the last five years.

While parliament will end up with at least 20 women due to the casual elections and the implementation of the gender corrective mechanism, which take place next week, questions have surfaced as to why the result was, in fact worse than 2017, which had seen eight women MPs elected.

Click here to read the full article published by Malta Today on 6 April 2022.

The commission rescinded the decision after the political parties protested against the provision stating that it is against existing laws.

The Election Commission has revoked a provision that mentioned that a political party contesting for only the post of either chief or deputy chief of a municipal should compulsorily field a woman candidate.

The commission rescinded the decision after the political parties protested against the provision stating that it is against existing laws.

Issuing a statement on Tuesday, Election Commission Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma said that the ‘directive was corrected’.

Click here to read the full article published by Nepal Live Today on 12 April 2022.

Election observers warn that rampant hate speech could result in violence.

Colombia’s election observers warned that hate speech targeting the running mate of presidential candidate Gustavo Petro could result in violence.

Vice-presidential candidate Francia Marquez said Monday that she had received three death threats in the past month.

All three death threats were signed by the “Aguilas Negras,” a far-right group that says to be loyal to former President Alvaro Uribe.

In the latest death threat, the Aguilas Negras threatened to kill Petro, Marquez and multiple elected lawmakers of their party to prevent a “catastrophe for the country.”

Click here to read the full article published by Colombia Reports on 5 April 2022.

It took Nagaland 45 years to elect its second woman parliamentarian, and the state is yet to elect any woman in the 60-member Assembly.

It took Nagaland 45 years to elect its second woman parliamentarian, a social enigma that manifests the existence of patriarchy in a different form in the state where female participation in decision making otherwise is much higher than the national average.

The wait for a woman parliamentarian ended last Thursday when BJP-nominee S Phangnon Konyak got elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed. Before her, Rano M Shaiza was the only woman from the state who could make it to Parliament, often called the temple of democracy. The Late Shaiza was elected to the Lok Sabha as an independent candidate in 1977.

Click here to read the full article published by The Federal on 29 March 2022.

Women politicians were challenged to use media effectively as they pursue political life fighting gender bias and stereotypes ahead of well publicised weekend by elections whose results have now been made public. Gender Media Connect (GMC) an organisation run by media women hosted an online meeting under the title Role of Media in election as a point of access to information to women.

Speakers who presented papers during an online meeting on Thursday ahead of weekend by elections called on a truce between media and women so that they are reports are done positively while they build confidence, fighting the public space.

Click here to read the full article published by Foxin Business on 27 March 2022.