Zimbabwe

Ten men are competing for Zimbabwe’s top job after two female candidates failed to raise enough funds to file their nominations.

The challenge was not only a problem of financing, as the fee to register as a presidential candidate rose to $20,000 for this year’s election, but that political parties failed to honour their pledges to field enough female candidates, according to Sitabile Dewa, the executive director of Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE).

WOMEN’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (Walpe) has expressed concern over the low number of women candidates fielded for the August general elections.

Two aspiring female presidential candidates failed to submit their nomination papers last week due to payment challenges.

One of the female presidential candidates, Elisabeth Valerio, of the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA) complained that despite having paid her nomination fees, she had been informed by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) that her payment in local currency had not been processed and that she would need to produce a cash payment of US$20 000.

The number of female candidates for the August 23 harmonised elections is set to drop significantly this year due to several challenges including the exorbitant nomination fees set by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the NewsDay has heard.

Violence against women has been cited as one of the main repellent factors to women participation in mainstream politics.