A millennial candidate has shaken up the US Democratic Party by defeating the incumbent congressman for his seat.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, defeated political veteran Joe Crowley, 56, on Tuesday night in their party's congressional primary in New York City.

Mr Crowley, a 10-term Democrat, had been tipped as a future party leader or even Speaker of the House.

In July’s crucial election – the first since the fall of Mugabe – women hope to deliver a decisive blow against sexism.

Women in Zimbabwe are hoping for a political breakthrough in the forthcoming elections, despite a “hostile atmosphere” and “resistance” from male politicians.

The United Nations (UN) has introduced a Women Empowerment Project (WEP) in Salima to empower female aspirants ahead of the 2019 tripartite elections.

The project is also expected to be implemented in five other districts in the country.

Ankara – June 25, 2018. A total of 103 women deputies have been elected to the 600-seat Turkey Parliament in the June 24 poll, according to unofficial data compiled from results provided by the state-run Anadolu Agency.

In the June 2015 and November 2015 elections, 97 and 81 female deputies were elected to the 550-seat parliament respectively, corresponding to 17.6 percent and 14.7 percent of all lawmakers in the national assembly.

As the 2019 election is approaching, more women are beginning to express interest in contesting the presidential election on different political platforms.

One of such women, Princess Oyenike Oyedele Roberts, who recently expressed willingness to run for the apex political post in the country on the platform of the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said Nigeria would do better under the leadership of a female president.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has decried low participation of women in political processes.

The Commission said despite the fact that women constitute 48 percent of the population, only 5.8 percent  of them hold political offices.

The Commission also revealed that since the commencement of CVR in 2017, only 1,362,293 women have registered compared to men who have 1,560,823 registration.

With primary season underway and a record number of women on ballots nationwide, the question now is how many will make it to office after elections in November. The reality is that many of the women running face long odds.

Of the 40 women who have advanced from primaries in Solid Republican districts, 37 of them are Democrats, and may have the odds stacked against them.