H.E Nicola Brennan, Ireland Ambassador to Ethiopia,
Mr. Gerald Mitchel, Deputy Head of Office – UNOAU
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, All protocols duly observed.

I am extremely delighted to have been invited to give this key note in this first joint AU and UNOAU continental Workshop on the fundamental theme relating to ‘‘Women’s Equal Participation in Electoral Process in Africa’’.

First of all, I would like to extend warm greetings of the Chairperson of the African Union, H.E Mr. Moussa Faki MAHAMAT and the Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, H.E Ambassador Bankole ADEOYE, who could not be present in this event due to their busy schedule. This important Workshop is one of the highlights of our Pan-African Strategy within the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the AU with a view to further strengthening national, regional and continental initiatives for greater inclusion of women and girls in electoral processes.

This workshop is timely in the wake of reforms within the AU as well as restructuring efforts underway within our Department. These are firmly in line with the implementation of new strategic orientations relating to the state of progress of democratic achievements in Africa, particularly with regard to the prioritization of gender in our deliberative decision-making bodies, both local, national, regional and continental.

Beyond the electoral processes, it is also wise to think about influencing the representation of women within governance bodies, political parties and coalitions, Election Management Bodies (EMBs) and polling station staff, among others.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Women constitute the demographic and electoral majority in our Member States. This inexorably makes them one of the key constituent levers of the outcome of elections in our countries. Women as voters are play an important role in mobilization within political stables where competition among the candidates and the parties or coalitions contesting, espeacilly so at intra-party level. However, there is still no equal representation, especially in our elective decision-making bodies such as Parliaments, Presidiums, and Local Government strutures. Women remain a minority, as candidates or even members of EMBs, staff of Polling Stations or Representatives or Delegates of the Parties in competition during electoral processes.

In the perspective of participatory and inclusive deliberative democracy, it should be noted the importance of pluralist or even pro-democratic politics aimed at permanently inducing effective and efficient mechanisms for stimulating parity in the electoral system in particular and the political system in general within our respective States.

Proactive dynamic measures aimed at the establishment of public policies of positive discrimination in order to break the glass ceiling of national, regional and continental political representation seem to be of paramount importance at the continental and global levels.

With this in mind, it would be wise to continue efforts aimed at permanently strengthening the dynamics of “win-win” cooperation between our various institutions, in order to better strengthen the democratic achievements in this area.
Distinguished Participants,
Africa is certainly experiencing significant challenges and issues ; but it is not to be outdone in its quest for political modernization and the induction of national and continental policies aimed at the accelerated promotion of full parity at all deliberative decision-making levels. The Constitutive Acts of the OAU/AU, the Maputo Protocol, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), the Guiding Principles on Elections in Africa, the Common Vision 2030 and Agenda 2063; are undoubtedly major instruments among many others that contribute to the effective implementation of the Pan-African Global Strategy that we embody. This aims above all to fully achieve total parity in Africa through the adoption of subtle sequential mechanisms both qualitatively and quantitatively. These instruments are fundamentally aimed at meeting the challenges and issues arising from the economic and systemic, legal, political and socio-cultural contexts. They also seek to transcend existing limiting factors and bottlenecks aimed at delaying the full and effective achievement of these specific Africa-wide objectives.

Nevertheless, despite the many efforts made in this direction, the way to go seems quite significant on the strategic level with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the relevant continental instruments relating to them mentioned above and the Resolution 1325 of the United Nations.

Exellencies, Ladies, Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), His Excellency Mr. Moussa Faki MAHAMAT, the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, H.E Ambassador Bankole ADEOYE and mine, I would like to express our best wishes to you and to thank you for your effective participation in this Joint AU-UNOAU Workshop which illustrates the excellence of our exemplary multilateral cooperation with the UN System, EMBs and Technical and Financial Partners (TFPs).

The AU expects from this Workshop relevant recommendations in order to strengthen its strategy to better consolidate the democratic achievements and the pluralist rule of law in Africa for a better effective and efficient participation of women in the electoral processes of the Continent.

With this, I declare open this First Joint AU-UNOAU Continental Workshop on Gender and Women's Equality in Political Participation in Africa.

Thank you for your kind attention.