Some women organizations have expressed disappointment at the low number of women that have been adopted to stand on local government seats, council chairperson or mayoral positions in Eastern Province.
Zambia National Women’s Lobby Chipata District chairperson, Diana Tonga, says that her organization is disappointed that political parties only adopted a few women candidates, despite a lot of sensitization and engagement with them.
She explained that corruption in the adoption process in most political parties contributed to a lot of women being left out, as they did not have money to bribe officials.
Ms. Tonga also noted that the adoption process in most political parties was marred with intimidation, forcing some women to opt to stay away.
She explained that the new clause, which requires people to have a Grade Twelve certificate, also disadvantaged many women.
The newly published full list of candidates by ECZ, the Electoral Commission of Zambia for local government, district council chairperson and mayoral, shows that out of 527 candidates for the position of councilors, only 34 are women, representing 6.45 percent.
For the positions of council person and mayor, out of 39 candidates, only five are female, representing 12.8 per cent.