Elections

Justin Muturi, speaker of the National Assembly and chairman of the Parliamentary Service Commission, said Maraga's advisory was unconstitutional, while organisations that pushed for the petition called it an unprecedented test of Kenyan law. "The Commission regrets that the chief justice appears to be willing, even eager, to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis without exercising the wisdom and circumspection that is expected of the high office that he holds," Muturi told a news conference.

Bolivia's interim President Jeanine Anez has said she will not run in the country's election next month, in an attempt to unify votes against the MAS party of former leader Evo Morales.

Anez, a former conservative senator, took office in the power vacuum that followed Morales's departure last year after allegations of irregularities in an October 2019 election that sparked violent protests and army pressure forced Bolivia's first Indigenous president to go into exile in Mexico.

Lawmakers who were vying to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic Party including Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who won the overwhelming support of the party’s members, have vowed to continue outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to empower women and raise their share of leadership roles.

A research study conducted by Utah State University’s Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP), in conjunction with USU Extension, reports that women hold 42.5% of leadership positions within county governments in Utah.

Susan Madsen, founding director of the UWLP and inaugural Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor of Leadership in USU’s Huntsman School of Business, said that number shows a positive representation of the state average, but many county governments are lower.

Despite the male-dominated political landscape in Ivory Coast, a handful of women intend to stand for president in the October election. Among them are Marie Carine Bladi and Danièle Boni Claverie, who offer a study in contrasts: one is a relative newcomer, a beauty queen making waves, while the other is a seasoned politician.

In the fierce competition for individual seats in the Senate elections, women compete for 91 seats in 20 electoral districts nationwide, out of 787 candidatesin Cairo Governorate.

Alexandria Governoraterankssecond in terms of the number of female candidates, with 12 female candidates, followed byQalyubia Governorate with 9 female candidates.

Despite strong efforts to promote female leadership and political engagement by advocacy groups, women still face serious roadblocks to political success in Vanuatu, writes Elise Howard.