UN Women, EC discuss women's participation in polls

Jul 10, 2020

The EC said it is committed to engaging media houses to ensure that they provide equal opportunities

In an effort to increase the participation of women in the coming general elections, UN Women officials have met with the top leadership of the Electoral Commission (EC) to discuss the road map for the elections.

This is intended to come up with modalities of how women can have equal access and participation in these elections.

According to Adekemi Ndieli, the UN Women deputy country representative, there is limited access to information regarding the road map for 2021 general elections in terms of measures and processes.

She however said that UN Women is ready to offer support to the Electoral Commission in Uganda for women to access such information.

"While we recognise the importance of the measures put in place in the road map, we know that some have challenges and we are ready to offer our technical support in form of raising awareness in line with what the Commission may be interested in," Adekemi said.

She welcomed the issue of campaigning in the media saying that it reaches a wider audience. However, she noted that it is likely to limit women aspirants from having equal access and participation because of the costs involved.

UN Women's Adekemi Ndieli discusses with Hajjat Aisha Lubega. Photo by Agnes Nantambi

"Media platforms are expensive in the whole world, especially in developing countries. How can women access such platforms?" she asked.

"80% of women are in rural areas, where there is limited connectivity to the internet. If we are to apply the principle of leaving no one behind and reaching the furthest first, how can women and the youth access these social media platforms?" Adekemi added.

For fair participation, Adekemi expressed UN Women's commitment to support the EC to address emerging issues so that various segments of the society might find challenging can benefit from the arrangement.

The team met with the deputy EC chairperson, Hajjat Aisha Lubega, and some members of the Commission.

Lubega pointed out the most challenging issue faced by EC as being the implementing the newly released road map of the upcoming elections within the law.

She explained that since the law did not envisage the outbreak of any pandemic like COVID-19, most of the election modalities have not changed apart from holding campaigns scientifically.

In order to realise fair competition, the EC said it is committed to engaging media houses to ensure that they provide equal opportunities to different genders even if they do not share the same political views.

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