- Sakeus Iikela
Vice chairperson of the National Council, Victoria Mbawo-Kauma, says Namibia should amend the law regulating regional council elections to ensure equal gender representation at the regional level.
Kauma argues that the current system, known as first-past-the-post or winner-takes-all, used in regional council elections has become one of the biggest obstacles to achieving gender balance in the composition of the National Council.
“Unlike the National Assembly and local authority elections, which follow a party list system that enables gender quotas, the Regional Councils Act allows only one candidate per constituency to emerge victorious. This system disadvantages women and undermines our goal of achieving 50/50 representation,” Kauma said.
She made these remarks on the sideline of a panel discussion on the forum of women parliamentarians at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly underway in Geneva, Switzerland.She noted that the National Assembly’s improved gender balance was largely due to political parties, particularly the Swapo Party, adopting the zebra-style system, which alternates male and female candidates on party lists.
This approach, she said, has encouraged other political formations to follow suit.
“However, this progress stops at the regional level, where women remain underrepresented. Perhaps, for us to achieve gender parity at that level, we should amend our Constitution to explicitly require 50/50 representation at Regional Councils,” Kauma said.
She added that while Namibia has made visible strides in promoting women to top positions, citing that the country now has a female President, vice president, Speaker of the National Assembly, and vice chairperson of the National Council, more still needs to be done to ensure equality extends to all levels of governance.
“As women, we must support one another when contesting leadership positions. Women should not fear standing for any position. Opportunities are there, and we must take them. We are even fortunate to have women in the highest positions who have shown us that it can be done. So, there is nothing to fear,” she added.
Kauma’s remarks come amid growing discussions across Africa on gender parity in politics, as countries review electoral systems that continue to hinder women’s full participation in decision-making structures.
