Elections

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.

“Gender in this race?” Senator Elizabeth Warren said outside her home on Thursday. “You know that is the trap question for every woman. If you say, ‘Yeah! There was sexism in this race,’ everyone says, ‘Whiner!’ And if you say, ‘No, there was no sexism, about a bazillion women think, ‘What planet do you live on?’”

She added: “I promise you this. I will have a lot more to say on that subject later on.”

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.

Many people see February 29 as a leap day, but it plays a much more important role in the history of the Slovaks and the Czechs. Their first democratic Constitution was adopted exactly 100 years ago.

The 1920 Constitution was the first legally binding document that incorporated the democratic principles established by Czechoslovakia. The document granted, for instance, the right to vote to all women and to all men.

Former Ethics and Integrity minister Dr. Miria Matembe has challenged women to take up more leadership positions in the forthcoming general elections, in order to achieve gender balance.

Matembe also former Mbarara district woman Member of Parliament expressed concern that women are leaving their male counterparts to occupy most of the elective positions yet the decisions taken by leaders affect mainly women and children.