2019 Elections Monitoring

Our aim with the monitoring of elections and political participation of women in Africa is to provide a deeper analysis, in the form of briefing papers that will incorporate primary sources: the views and voices of parties and voters on the ground. Through a table with statistical data, we will be specifically looking at the number of women (i) registered to vote, (ii) running as candidates, (iii) who are elected following the elections. Our analysis will also include an article on the gender specificities of the country where the election is taking place. We will be looking at the situation of women prior to the elections as well as the way that the elections impact the lives of women.

While the early 20th century saw queens ruling various African countries, notably Ethiopia and Swaziland, the early 1990s saw women appearing on the African political scene, notably in Liberia, Burundi and Rwanda with female presidents and prime ministers. We now hope that the second decade of this millennium will see the rise of true female political participation sweep through Africa, with an increased number of women taking part in the polls, being elected as candidates and playing a key role in shaping their own country’s future.

Objectives:

The  objective is to  provide an easy to use tool to follow the role of women in elections across Africa by covering the position of female candidates before and after the elections have taken place.The accessibility of current and reliable data on women’s political participation, access to leadership is even more difficult to find and compile. Without this information it is difficult to construct an objective view, analyze and interpret the position of women with regards to political participation. By providing this data in an accessible, easy to read framework (ie table) MEWC hopes to provide an information gateway to researchers, policy makers, students other women’s organizations and local voters...

By: Surbhi Mahajan

President Hage Geingob has won a second term by winning the 2019 presidential election with 56.3% of the vote. The elections were held in the midst of a corruption scandal, an economic recession and a fractured ruling party.

The legislative elections were held in 10 March 2019, even though they were originally scheduled for 18 November 2018.

In 2019, Tunisians voted in presidential elections on September 15, parliamentary elections on October 6 and a presidential run-off on October 13 as no candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round. Kais Saied won the second round with 72.7% of the vote.

By: Emily Chow

Botswana Presidential Election was held on October 23, 2019, and it was said to be the most competitive Presidential Election ever since its independence in 1966.

Amidst protests and election boycott, Algeria held its presidential elections on December 12, 2019.

 Former Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune won the election with 58.15% of the vote. However, the election saw the lowest voter turnout in Algeria’s history, with some sources reporting 40% of eligible voters voting, and others citing numbers as low as 8%. The incumbent, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had served as President for 20 years, was forced to resign earlier in 2019 after mass pro-democracy protests opposed his plan to run for a fifth term in office.

By Becky Zelikson

Amidst protests and election boycott, Algeria held its presidential elections on December 12, 2019.

By: Wini Omer

By: Surbhi Mahajan

By: Ida W. Djiguimde 

By: Surbhi Mahajan

By: Rivka (Becky) Zelikson

Go to top