A NEW online campaign preparation centre, The Empowering Fiji’s Women in Politics (EFWIP) candidate hub, was launched yesterday to help women candidates improve their prospects of contesting and winning Fiji’s next general election.
Centre for Dialogue and Democracy executive director Nilesh Lal said it was a source of great embarrassment that women, who made up about 50 per cent of Fiji’s population and electorate, accounted for less than 10 per cent of members of Parliament.
Mr Lal said Fiji had regressed in women’s parliamentary representation after reaching a high of about 21.7 per cent in 2021.
“The upcoming election presents an opportunity to improve women’s participation in national politics,” he said.
“The platform included six learning modules covering Fiji’s political and electoral systems, candidacy, campaign finance, leadership and policy, and communication.
“It also featured interactive tools, including an election timeline calculator, eligibility and nomination checklists, a campaign message builder, a women’s candidate safety planner and a personal vote target calculator.”
According to Mr Lal, the tools were designed to help candidates assess their readiness, plan campaign budgets, identify priority voter groups and determine the number of votes they might need to secure victory.
“Candidates could also access experienced mentors and submit questions to experts through the platform.”
Mr Lal said encouraging women to stand for election was relatively easy compared with helping them understand the electoral system, build support, manage campaign resources, communicate effectively and comply with electoral laws.
He said the centre had worked for several years to encourage women’s political participation and improve their prospects of winning elections.
