Elections

In March 2013, Sophia Abdi Noor was the only woman to stand for parliament in northern Kenya, a marginalised region where Islam has a lot of sway.

She spoke about the obstacles she has faced as a female politician at the launch of a report about women’s participation in the March 2013 elections. Female candidates in Kenya face many barriers, including violence, cultural and social stereotypes, lack of money and lack of political connections.

New laws designed to increase the number of elected women in Kenyan politics had no effect on the 2013 elections because those concerned failed to implement them, the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) said.

“We have good laws that we are not using,” said Mariam Kamunyu, the lead author of ‘Key Gains and Challenges: A Gender Audit of Kenya’s 2013 Election Process’, a report on how women fared in the polls,

A group of women MPs from South Sudan’s parliament were warned by a delegation of women from Eastern Equatoria that legislators that did not make the effort to visit their constituencies would face the consequences at the next election.At the public meeting in Torit the national lawmakers were quizzed about the lack of coordination between the national level MPs and their counterparts at state-level. As well as a national parliament, each of South Sudan’s 10 states has its own legislature.

Afghan authorities should ensure a large number of women take part in next year’s make-or-break elections to prevent female voters being murdered and to safeguard transparency, Afghan human rights activist Sima Samar said on Tuesday.

“If one or two women go to a polling station, then it’s easy for the opposition to the government to identify the women and kill them, but if it’s thousands of women they cannot go behind every door and kill the people,” she said.

Campaigning for the December 4 Assembly elections in Delhi ended on Monday with around 25 rallies and road shows being organised in the capital.

The public engagement programmers included those by BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal.

While the city was plastered with posters promising safety to women and the issue figures big in party manifestos, only a few women have made it to the candidates’ list for the Delhi Assembly polls.

The Democratic Party is hoping 2014 will be a Year of the Woman—again.

As party operatives prepare for the midterm elections, Democratic women are being cast in starring roles, on the ballot and at the ballot box, as the party tries to take back politically important governor's mansions and keep its fragile majority in the Senate.

"The importance of women to the Democratic Party in 2014 cannot be overstated," said Jess McIntosh, a spokeswoman for EMILY's List, which recruits and supports Democratic women candidates.