Fact Check: What happened to women candidates?

Claim: Did Zimbabwe suffer a fall in women candidates in 2023?

A report by local news website Newzwire published on June 30 2023 provided a statistical breakdown of women participation from the nomination lists published by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Statements have also been published by women’s rights groups registering their concern over this decline in women’s representation citing unequal access to resources as one of the factors deterring women’s participation in this election.

The numbers from the nomination process show a regression at all levels of candidature compared to statistics recorded in 2018.

Verdict: True or False – True

What are the numbers at the different levels of candidacy?

Presidential

No women are contesting for the top office in the country, a significant decline from the four who contested in 2018

National Assembly

Overall, 70 women are contesting for National Assembly seats, this represents 11% of the 637 prospective candidates. In the 2018 general elections, women constituted 14.4% of the 1648 national assembly candidates.

Local authority

In the local authority elections, 665 women will be contesting as candidates against 3940 men. Overall, 14% of the candidates in this election are women compared to 17% in the previous election.

The contesting political parties listed 1336 women who will be vying for the 30% local government quota seats. The quota system guarantees women 561 seats in Council which translates to at least 23% of the 1570 available seats.

Conclusion

The statistics from the ZEC nomination figures show that there has been a decline in women’s participation as candidates in the 2023 election. The prevailing trend violates section 17, 56 and 80 of the Constitution which call for gender equality in all sectors including politics.

Sources

https://www.zec.org.zw/download/nomination-court-results/