Local Government

Sawako Naito, a 36-year-old independent rookie, was elected head of the city of Tokushima on Sunday, becoming the youngest female mayor in Japan.

Naito, who leads a community development group, defeated incumbent Mayor Akiyoshi Endo, 64, by 41,247 votes to 39,248.

Voter turnout fell to 38.88 percent from 45.70 percent in the previous mayoral election.

In October 2020, Brazilians will head to the polls to elect new mayors and city counselors in thousands of municipalities across the country. For the first time in history, Brazil’s thirty-five individual political parties will be required by law to allocate at least 30 percent of their campaign funding toward the election of women candidates.

Government is working on ensuring greater participation of women at local government level.

This comes after the representation of women in local government declined from 16 percent to 15 percent.

Out of 6 800 candidates who contested in elections for seats in the 92 local authorities, only 1156 (17 percent) were women.

Female representation in Nepal's parliament has increased dramatically in the last 10 years. It’s the result of a far-reaching gender quota system in the Himalayan nation that has made the country’s Constitution one of the most politically progressive in Asia. But women politicians and rights advocates say that true equality remains a long way off.

DOHA: Two women won seats on Qatar’s 29-member municipal council, the Gulf emirate’s sole elected body, the elections committee said on Wednesday. Sheikha al-Jafiri and Fatima al-Kuwari retained the seats they had won in 2015.

Five women were among the 85 candidates standing in Tuesday’s election for the emirate-wide council. The other three failed to win seats.