Parties fielded only 10.1% women candidates — Report

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has said the nation’s 18 registered political parties fielded only 10.1 per cent women as candidates for the 2023 elections.

In a data analysis released by the centre on Thursday, there are only 1,552 women among the total of 15,307 contestants seeking elective positions in next year’s polls.

According to the figures, this represents only 10.1 per cent of the women candidates.

Of the 18 parties in the country, only Allied Peoples Movement (APM) fielded a female presidential candidate, while no single political party fielded a female vice-presidential candidate.

For the gubernatorial election, out of 419 candidates vying for governorship, only 25 are women, representing six per cent.

For the Senate, out of the 1,101 candidates gunning for the 109 senatorial seats, 92 are women, representing 8.35 per cent while 286 women are contesting for the House of Representatives out of a total of 3,107 candidates.

In the State Houses of Assembly, only 1046 out of the 10,225 candidates are women.

The regional analysis of the data shows that the South West nominated more women than the South East, which had the highest number in 2019.

Among the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, Lagos State has the highest number of female candidates – APC (102) and PDP (72) – a total of 174 female candidates.