Political Parties

In line with the inclusive principles enshrined in the Constitution of Nepal 2015, the three major political parties—in their recently held general conventions—included cluster-wise inclusion in their central committees (CCs). Yet while the inclusive principles were applied in selection of lower-level leaders, top positions continued to be in the hands of the traditional elite groups.

South Asia Partnership (SAP) Pakistan and Aurat Foundation held a convention on women’s political participation in Pakistan on Saturday. The focus was on women in local government.

Centre-right Maltese lawmaker Roberta Metsola, chosen Tuesday as only the third woman to head the European Parliament, is viewed as a political moderate despite controversy over her anti-abortion stance.

Elected on the day she turns 43, the politician from the European Union's smallest nation becomes the youngest president ever to run the chamber. She takes over at a time of mourning for the legislature as it marks the sudden death last week of its speaker David Sassoli.

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.

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.