Bungoma County Women Representative Election Results 2022

Bungoma County Women Representative Election Results 2022. A county woman representative is a member of Kenya’s National Assembly who represents one of the 47 counties through an at-large seat exclusively reserved for women. They serve alongside the 290 constituency-elected members, 12 nominated members, and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

Historical Background
This position was established under the 2010 Constitution of Kenya to increase female representation in parliament. Before the constitution was adopted, fewer than 20 women were in the Kenyan parliament. The first woman representatives were elected in the 2013 general elections.

Elected by all registered voters in their respective counties, not just female voters, the role faced potential elimination following the 2019 proposal by the Committee on Implementation and Oversight of the Constitution.

While Kenya’s constitution mandates that no more than two-thirds of either the National Assembly or Senate should consist of the same gender, this requirement remains unmet. In 2017, the High Court ruled that both legislative houses had failed to fulfill their constitutional obligations. Despite efforts to pass new laws to bolster female representation, the issue remains unresolved.

After the 2017 elections, apart from the 47 woman representatives, 23 women secured constituency seats, and five were nominated. As a result, a total of 75 women participated in the National Assembly’s 12th Parliament, representing 21% of its members.