By Donald Chakamanga
Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE) has held forth against the continued depreciation of the percentage of women contesting as legislators in the upcoming polls.
The organization which encourages women to run for political and leadership positions said the decline in women participating in political positions was exacerbated by the Government’s failure to fully align sections 17, 56 and 80 of the Constitution with the Electoral Act which empower the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to reject political parties that avail lists of candidates which are not gender balanced.
Speaking to the media in Harare, WALPE Communications and Technology Officer, Jessie Chihota underscored that it’s implications are already being felt.
“The number of women contesting as Members of Parliament declined from 237 women out of 1 648 candidates in 2018 to 70 women out of 637 candidates contesting in 2023. The percentage declined from 14% to 11%,” she said.
Chihota hinted that despite numerous calls for electoral reforms since 2018 that promote the free, active and full participation of women, none of the reforms have been implemented.
“Zimbabwe in 2018 had a record number of four women contesting as Presidential candidates, but in 2023 only one woman made it to the ballot and this was after the intervention of the courts. The lower numbers of women have been reported at the Council, Parliament and Presidential level,” said Chihota.
Recently, Harare High Court dismissed an application filed by opposition Labour Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) leader, Linda Masarira who was challenging the decision of the Nomination Court to set aside her papers.
She was vying for a Presidential post but her nomination papers were rejected after she failed to pay the mandatory US$20,000 nomination fees using the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) due to restrictive withdrawal limits within the country’s banking system.
On the other hand, leader of the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA) Elisabeth Valerio, will be the only female Presidential candidate in the upcoming polls. The Electoral Court granted her permission to contest after the Nomination Court had rejected her papers citing that she failed to pay the nomination fees within the stipulated time frame.
