Improved Female Representation

The 70 elected Senators of the ten regions of Cameroon are already known. The results of the March 12, 2023 Senatorial election were proclaimed by the Constitutional Council on March 23, 2023. Going by the results, 28 of the 70 elected lawmakers are women. This is against 26 women in the incumbent legislature whose mandate comes to an end before the session as of right of the elected Senators. As a result, it can be said that female representation at the Senate has lightly improved. Going into details, every region had at least two female candidates, with the North West Region, having as list leader a lady, in the person of Lafon epse Eno Emma. The Far North, North West, West and South Regions have the highest number of female representation, as compared to the other regions.
Merits for increased female representation at the Senate can be given to the Electoral Code and in-house regulations of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (the party that won all 70 elected seats in the lawmaking House). The Electoral Code in its Section 151 (3) clearly states that: “Each list shall take into consideration the various sociological components of the constituency concerned. Its shall also take into consideration gender aspects.” As a result, Elections Cameroon did reject lists that did not respect that stipulation of the law. The CPDM on its part has an internal regulation of ensuring at least a 30 per cent representation of women in various lists submitted for elections in the country. This definitely explains why female representation keeps increasing in Parliament.
Specialists in Parliamentary affairs note that increased female representation in Parliament has a positive impact on the grassroots the women re...