By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
During a draft report discussion held by stakeholders, UN Women validated a report on how women faired in the 2023 multi-tier elections in Sierra Leone.
The discussion was held at the Sierra Palms Hotel in Freetown on the 18th of January 2024.
Addressing the gathering Gender and Inclusion Specialist at UNDP, Ilemobola Ademola-Adelehun noted that institutions especially the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) worked with the Political Parties Regulation Commission (PPRC) to ensure that all the processes, legal frameworks, procedures, and systems were well understood and went on smoothly.
He stated that they ensured women through the Youth Commission participated effectively as voters, observers, and in other electoral activities. He said that they are proud that women perform extremely well during the elections.
“For the first time, we saw the percentage of women that won their seats in the local councils and Parliament in the country increased by 30.2% which demonstrated women's participation in governance. All this was made possible by the active participation work, engagement, and the legal framework,” he said.
The Director of Electoral Inclusion from the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL), Christiana O’rielly thanked the UNPD for supporting the Commission to be able to reach out not only to women but also to the disabled community throughout the country. She said UNDP's contribution is essential in ensuring women participate in the electoral systems of the country where they can now boast of having more women in Parliament.
She expressed appreciation to UN Women for their intervention. She said that election is not only meant for men, and that the process could not have been credible if women were excluded.
O’Reilly added that democracy in the election means the inclusion of everybody starting from the registration process, bringing change to the political atmosphere in the country. She urged women to make use of the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act (GEWE) to bring positive change to the country.
Senior Human Rights Adviser, Office of the UN Resident Coordinator, Uchenna Emelonye stated that in the last election, 52% of women registered more than their male counterparts, and also 52% of women voted in the past election where only 47% of men voted.
He said the composition of Parliament should reflect that more women registered and voted in the elections but thanked the government for the high women's participation in governance.
The Consultant of the Research work, Dr. Bernadette Lahai explained that before the elections, certain UN entities decided to create a basket funding for the exercise part of which was to specifically ensure that women take an effective part in the elections. She said since the elections are over, they want to continue a reflection on how women fared before, during, and after the polls.
She stated that they did regional consultations and a national conference to capture women's perceptions, views, and lessons learned and the recommendations that women can put forward to improve on the shortcomings by 2028 to ensure that those things were done very well.
Dr. Lahai pointed out that they looked at 5 thematic areas namely; Political parties and their role in women’s participation, Civil Society’s (CSOs) role in the elections to ensure that women participated effectively in the elections, the electoral framework that governs the elections on how effective were they especially with increased women participation in the election, and the Media’s role in educating and informing the populace about women candidate contesting in the elections.
She added that they also looked at the electoral security on how the environment looked like for women candidates and the things that were put in place by the security sector for women.
She concluded that the general women populace accepted that the Proportional Representative (PR) System of voting should continue as it provides more space for women’s participation in governance, though she said the smaller parties were disadvantaged as a result of the 11.9% threshold.
UN Women is the global champion for gender equality, working to develop and uphold standards and create an environment in which every woman and girls live up to their full potential.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (18/01/24)
