Elections

France's former justice minister Christiane Taubira on Saturday launched her bid to unify the floundering French left and challenge President Emmanuel Macron in April presidential elections, but she faces a slew of competing candidates reluctant to cede the limelight.

"I'm committing myself here before you because I share your aspiration for another kind of government," Taubira told supporters in Lyon at the official launch of her campaign.

Cheri Beasley is well aware of the challenges facing Black women who run for statewide office. “I know what it's like to hear the doubters and those who are skeptical that people of color can't win, because it's not what we're used to or who we envision in positions of power,” she said in an interview with NBC News.

The former judge has made two successful runs for statewide judicial positions, and this year she is running for North Carolina’s open Senate seat, joining a cohort of Black women looking to make history.

The Congress party on Saturday released its first list of 86 candidates in Punjab. Out of the total, Congress has decided to field only nine women candidates in the upcoming polls.

Ahead of the upcoming Punjab assembly elections, Congress on Saturday issued its first list of candidates on 86 seats. The list includes nine women candidates, four former ministers and two AAP rebels.

For the first time in the island’s history, women leaders will take Barbados’ two major political parties into the arena as the island prepares for a snap general election. Incumbent prime minister, Mia Mottley, head of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) will face off with attorney-at-law Verla De Peiza and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) at the polls set for January 19, 2022.

This will also be the first general election to take place since the island became a republic at midnight on November 30.

Over 30 years since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991, the Republic of Somaliland has established itself as a paragon of stability in a tough neighbourhood. Although it remains internationally unrecognised, it is inevitably compared favourably to Somalia, not least in its efforts to establish a homegrown democratic tradition. Though not always smoothly, Somaliland has held eight functional elections and one constitutional referendum since 2001.

Congress' Uttar Pradesh in-charge and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been leading the charge in the state. She has made several populist announcements and started direct interactions with women after not left with any strong base in the politics of caste and community.

The Election Commission, on Saturday, mandated that one polling station in each constituency should be managed by women in the upcoming Assembly Elections. This is introduced in a bid to facilitate increased participation of women in the election process.

The announcement was a part of the all-important press conference held by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra where he asked the political parties to hold virtual rallies, keeping in mind the rapid surge of COVID-19 cases in the country.