Elections

Delilah Gore and Loujaya Toni, who represent two different political parties, succeeded despite widespread opinions that no woman would win a seat in this year's election.

Their win is seen as major political step for women in PNG, which had only one female parliamentarian for the past couple of years, Dame Carol Kidu who retired last month.

Despite constituting 52% of the country’s population, the number of female registered voters is once again far less than men in the new computerised electoral rolls, according to a report provided by the acting chief election commissioner (CEC).

The total number of male registered voters is 47.7 million compared to the 36.5 million female voters in the newly-compiled computerised electoral rolls which will be made public by the end of this month.

Yesterday, the preliminary results for Libya’s General National Congress (GNC) elections showed that women had acquired 33 out of the 200 available seats in the GNC. This means that women only make up 16.5% of the governing body that will replace Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC).

Over 600 women ran in the GNC elections. Of the 33 elected, only one was an independent candidate, while the others were members of party lists.

Two women are among 120 unaffiliated candidates who have won seats in Libya’s National Assembly, the nation’s first free election following the end of Muammar Qaddafi’s 42-year rule.

Mahmoud Jibril’s moderate National Forces Alliance won 39 of the seats, about half of those set aside for party-affiliated candidates in the 200-member National Assembly. The assembly is due to pick a prime minister and cabinet before full parliamentary elections next year. Jibril is calling for all parties to hold talks on forming a national unity coalition to help rebuild Libya.