Elections

A new law in Sierra Leone will ensure that at least 30% of parliamentarians are women and impose similar quotas in other institutions, including government, local councils, the diplomatic corps and the civil service. The Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Act was signed into law by President Julius Maada Bio on 19 January, a few months before the country's next general election scheduled for July 2023.

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.

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.

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.

Women make up more than a quarter (28%) of all members of the 118th Congress – the highest percentage in U.S. history and a considerable increase from where things stood even a decade ago.

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.”