CSO Seeks Protection For 381 Women Candidates In 2023 Polls

As political campaigns for the 2023 general elections start tomorrow, a non-partisan civil society organisation (CSO), Women In Politics Forum (WIPF) has warned that nothing should happen to the 381 female contestants in the country.

The group said despite the marginalisation suffered women in political parties, they have also been facing serious violence during the election, adding that the 381 females out of the 4,259 candidates in the election must be protected.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the president of WIPF, Barr Ebere Ifendu, disclosed that of the 18 political parties in the country, only one candidate contesting on the platform of Allied People’s Movement (APM) is a female, adding that no party fielded a female as the vice presidential candidate.

The forum, therefore, declared support for the presidential candidate of the  APM and Delta State born politician, Princess Chichi Ojei.

For the Senate, Ifendu observed that out of the 1,101 candidates vying for 109 Senatorial seats, 92 are women, representing 8.35 per cent while 288 women are contesting for House of Representatives out of 3,122 candidates.

She noted that cumulatively there are 381 women among the total of 4,259 contestants for the presidency and national Assembly seats amounting to 8.9 per cent of the candidates.

Ifendu recalled that at the end of the 2019 general elections, women made up a total of 4.71 per cent of the elected officials, showing a decline from the 2015 period when 5.6 per cent of the elected officials were women.