Johannesburg, South Africa (ADV) – A Malawian NGO Gender Coordination Network (NGO-GCN) has expressed concern on political parties that snubbed women in the internal election processes with many female parliamentary candidates forced to stand as independents,” African Daily Voice has learnt.
Malawi24 recently reported that according to a gendered analysis of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) 2019 Presidential and Parliamentary statistics conducted by the NGO-GCN, at least 123 of the 304 women contesting for parliamentary office are independents.
“Political party backing is the most significant factor for female candidates and the absence of such backing can disturb one’s chances of being elected into office,” reads a statement issued by the NGO-GCN adding that women who are standing as independents are at a disadvantage because voting trends have shown that people vote along party lines especially in areas where some parties dominate.
“For instance, only three of the 23 constituencies in Lilongwe have a female a candidate on an (Malawi Congress Party) MCP ticket, in Kasungu only one of the nine constituencies has a female candidate on MCP ticket, in Mzimba only two of the 12 constituencies have a female candidate standing on a MCP ticket while in Nsanje there is no woman standing for office under the MCP ticket. Out of the 33 constituencies in the Northern Region, only two have women standing on MCP ticket.”
In Chitipa, Karonga, Nkhatabay, Likoma, Mzuzu, and Rumphi there are no female candidates standing on a MCP ticket while United Transformation Movement (UTM) and (Democratic Progressive Party) DPP have fielded an average of one female candidate in these districts.
The analysis shows that the People’s Party (PP) – which has a female presidential candidate – has the highest number of women standing on a party ticket with 30.8 percent of the female candidates.
Click here to read the full article published by African daily Voice on 27 February 2019.
Johannesburg, South Africa (ADV) – A Malawian NGO Gender Coordination Network (NGO-GCN) has expressed concern on political parties that snubbed women in the internal election processes with many female parliamentary candidates forced to stand as independents,” African Daily Voice has learnt.
Malawi24 recently reported that according to a gendered analysis of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) 2019 Presidential and Parliamentary statistics conducted by the NGO-GCN, at least 123 of the 304 women contesting for parliamentary office are independents.
“Political party backing is the most significant factor for female candidates and the absence of such backing can disturb one’s chances of being elected into office,” reads a statement issued by the NGO-GCN adding that women who are standing as independents are at a disadvantage because voting trends have shown that people vote along party lines especially in areas where some parties dominate.
“For instance, only three of the 23 constituencies in Lilongwe have a female a candidate on an (Malawi Congress Party) MCP ticket, in Kasungu only one of the nine constituencies has a female candidate on MCP ticket, in Mzimba only two of the 12 constituencies have a female candidate standing on a MCP ticket while in Nsanje there is no woman standing for office under the MCP ticket. Out of the 33 constituencies in the Northern Region, only two have women standing on MCP ticket.”
In Chitipa, Karonga, Nkhatabay, Likoma, Mzuzu, and Rumphi there are no female candidates standing on a MCP ticket while United Transformation Movement (UTM) and (Democratic Progressive Party) DPP have fielded an average of one female candidate in these districts.
The analysis shows that the People’s Party (PP) – which has a female presidential candidate – has the highest number of women standing on a party ticket with 30.8 percent of the female candidates.
Click here to read the full article published by African daily Voice on 27 February 2019.
