2022 Elections Monitoring
The parliamentary elections for the Republic of the Congo took place in July 2022. The elections met several challenges, including a low voter turnout. Indeed, some opposition parties boycotted the elections, considering that these elections were “organised in total disrespect of the law” to the benefit of the former ruling party. Among other irregularities, some names of candidates on the final candidate list were omitted from the ballot papers. Petitioners appealed to the Constitutional Court based on irregularities and fraud, requesting the annulment of the published results. However, on August 14, 2022, the Court validated the election results.
Kenya held its general elections on 9th August 2022, with both presidential and parliamentary elections being conducted. The presidential election had four contenders: Deputy President William Ruto, veteran opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, George Wajackoyah and David Mwaure. The election campaigns and voting exercises were generally peaceful and calm. However, female candidates experienced violence despite promises from the government to tackle the problem. Electoral staff experienced harassment and physical assault, as well as arbitrary arrest, and one electoral officer was abducted and tortured to death in the line of duty.
On Sunday, 31 July 2022, seven million voters voted in the Senegalese parliamentary elections. This election was deemed crucial since the absolute majority in parliament that supported the President sought to preserve its seats. The opposition, on the other hand, saw an opportunity to change the balance of power and claim more seats allowing them to gain more influence before the presidential election in 2024.
In 2022, Somalia held both presidential and parliamentary elections. Political differences and disagreements over election processes delayed the presidential election for more than 15 months and parliamentary elections for a month and a half. Some fought for direct elections as promised in the Provisional Constitution, and others believed an indirect electoral system was sufficient. The representatives of both houses of parliament elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud from the Union for Peace and Development Party as President on May 15th. It will be Mr Mohamud's second term as president, as he previously served from 2012 to 2017. In the third round of voting, Mr Mohamud won the presidency with 214 votes compared with the incumbent Mohamed Abdullahi "Farmajo" 's 110 votes.
by Naomi Ndifon
On 9 April 2022, Gambians peacefully gathered at the polls to choose 53 parliamentarians for the National Assembly. Out of 251 candidates who contested in the 2022 parliamentary election, only 19 (7.6%) were women. At the end of the voting process, only three were successful in their bids to represent their constituencies at the National Assembly, and President Barrow appointed an additional two. Before the 2022 election, women occupied only 6 out of the 58 seats (10.34%). Out of the 58 legislators who took seats in parliament, 5 (8.62%) are women.