Elections
MAROUA, CAMEROON — Activists in Cameroon are urging more women candidates to enter races for Senate seats before a January 28 deadline. Only 26 members of Cameroon's 100-member senate are women, a number advocates want to see doubled. But patriarchal beliefs and a lack of political support are preventing more women from contesting the March election.
Female activists have been visiting political party leaders in northern Cameroon to push for greater representation for women in Cameroon’s upper house of parliament, the Senate.
Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, announced last week that senate elections will be held March 12 with a registration deadline of January 28.
The announcement prompted activists to push for more women candidates.
Click here to read the full article published by VOA News on 17 January 2023.
For Tolulope Akande-Sadipe, running for a second term as a member of parliament in Nigeria means putting her life on the line, says the 56-year-old politician who is running in the February 25 legislative elections in the southwest of Africa's most populous country.
On the same day, Nigerians will also elect their next president, Muhmmadu Buhari stepping down after two terms as stipulated by the constitution, and their senators. On March 11, they will choose their governors and local assembly members.
In the last election in 2019, Ms. Akande-Sadipe's campaign bus was destroyed and her press officers assaulted. For this election, she said she narrowly escaped an assault while campaigning against five men in her party's primary.
In Nigeria, "electoral violence is very real, and it targets me more because I am a woman," the MP from Oyo State told AFP. According to her, her opponents "think they can intimidate her" because she is a woman.
Click here to read the full article published by Africa News on 14 February 2023.
Princess Chichi Ojei, Presidential Candidate of Allied People’s Movement (APM), has expressed confidence of winning the February presidential election.
Ojei said this on Friday in Abuja, in a New Year statement tagged 2023: A glorious future beckons for Nigerians.
The Presidential hopeful said being the only female candidate in the race, she stood a better chance of winning.
” With the increased demographics of Nigerian women and youths, I stand better chance of winning the people’s mandates against other candidates.
“As we approach one of the most historic general elections in the annals of Nigerian politics, it is no secret that the demographics of Nigerian women and youths have increased tremendously.
“I am appealing to all Nigerians who are eligible voters, to obtain their Permanent Voters Cards, especially women and youths, to vote the Allied People’s Movement.
Click here to read the full article published by PM News Nigeria on 6 January 2023.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was sworn in for her first elected term on Sunday, making history as the first woman elected to the position in the state.
The Democrat, launching her term as the 57th governor of New York, said her goals were to increase public safety and to make the state more affordable.
“Right now there are some fights we have to take on,” Hochul said after taking the oath of office at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany. “First we must and will make our streets safer.”
Hochul also called for making the state more affordable, citing the high cost of living. Also sworn in Sunday was Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.
A native of Buffalo, Hochul, 64, defeated Republican congressman Lee Zeldin, an ally of Donald Trump, in November’s election to win the office that she took over in 2021 when former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned.
Click here to read the full article published by PBS on 1 January 2023.
The United Nations have launched the DPPA Electoral Series, a new initiative to commemorate the 10th anniversary of our training course on political approaches to preventing and responding to election-related violence. In the inaugural video, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo explains her role as UN focal point for electoral assistance matters, the goals of UN support, their approach to elections and their work with partners.
Click here to access the video.
As the country goes to the polls, reforms introduced by hardline president Kais Saied have led to the exclusion of female candidates.
Tunisian will vote on Saturday in an election that will lead to a weakened parliament “almost exclusively dominated by men”, as activists warn of a stark deterioration of women’s rights under an increasingly authoritian president.
The controversial elections, boycotted by all the main parties, mark the final piece of the constitutional jigsaw President Kais Saied began assembling in July 2021, when he suspended the legislature in what critics called a power grab.
Click here to read the full article published by The Guardian on 16 December 2022.