During the Pre-Election Observation, the observers in Côte d’Ivoire reported only seven critical incidents of intimidation, harassment or violence. This graph shows the gender of the victims and perpetrators that occurred at a rally or assembly. There were no reported incidents in which women were the sole victims or perpetrators of reported incidents of intimidation, harassment.
During the voter registration period, there were almost no reported incidents of women voters being coerced or forced to vote a certain way. This reflected the broader trend that observers reported: that they witnessed or heard of almost no violence against political actors or their sympathizers for their political beliefs, or calls for violence against them.
During the pre-election period, very few observers reported incidents of economic violence, including destruction of property or campaign materials belonging to candidates or their supporters. This graph shows the very small number of incidents that was reported; the reports did not indicate that women candidates or supporters were targeted directly.
During the pre-election period, very few observers reported incidents of economic violence, including destruction of property or campaign materials belonging to candidates or their supporters. This graph shows the very small number of incidents that was reported; the reports did not indicate that women candidates or supporters were targeted directly.
In the incidents of physical violence that were reported by observers on election day, women made up over half the victims, at 60% of all reported victims, with no observers reporting incidents involving both men and women victims.
Of the incidents of intimidation, threats and bullying that were reported by observers on election day, 54% involved both male and female victims. In reported incidents where only one gender was reported, slightly more men were attacked than women.
In the few reported incidents of physical violence on election day, the perpetrators were overwhelmingly reported by observers to be men. In 80% of reported incidents of physical violence, perpetrators were male, while female perpetrators were reported in only 20%.
While Election Day in Nicaragua was peaceful overall, there were 211 confirmed critical incidents reported by observers. Of these incidents, only 20% in total were reported to be violent, as seen in this chart. These incidents, in turn, were nearly all incidents of intimidation, threats or bullying, with only 2% of all reported incidents characterized by physical violence.
Of the reported incidents on election day, victims were primarily voters: in 36% of reported incidents, observers indicated that voters were the victims of incidents. However, a significant percentage of incidents were reported with no clear affiliation or role for the victim. Members of civil society were also more frequently targeted, with 19% of reported incidents affecting them.
While few reports of critical incidents were submitted by observers, of those that were, men were reported to be the perpetrators in 36% of the incidents recorded, while women were reported to be the perpetrators in only 17% of the reported incidents.
Overall, very few confirmed incidents of violence were reported on election day. Of those that were reported by observers, nearly half involved both men and women victims, with 17% involving only women victims, and 18% involving only male victims.
When designing their observation methodology and recruiting observers, Panorama Electoral placed a high priority on ensuring there was a gender balance in their observers. As the graph below shows, they were able to meet that goal: their full complement of observers, from both pre-election and election day observation periods, showed even representation of men and women.
In Nicaragua's 2016 election, the national-level Supreme Electoral Council had the ability to place auxiliary personnel as members of municipal-level electoral councils directly. As this graph shows, in municipalities where such authorities were placed, they were largely men, with observers in 37% of the municipalities reporting that male authorities were put in place, whereas only 19% reported that women authorities were placed in the municipality. The remaining 44% of observers reported...
During the pre-election period, observers looked for and reported on incidents of sexual exhibition of women. This included the exhibition of women in sexual ways to draw attention to campaign or political party events. This graph shows the average percentage of municipalities in which observers reported seeing ("Yes") or not seeing ("No") this kind of sexualization of the female form in different parties'campaign activities.
Women have a right to participate in any electoral role that is open to their fellow men. However, around the world, women are still underrepresented as voters, election officials, candidates and election observers. The Votes Without Violence project took a close look at the numbers of women that observers reported participating in elections in all capacities: overwhelmingly, women's participation levels still come in lower when compared to their fellow male citizens.
Of the incidents of violence that were reported by observers, the perpetrators were most likely to be men, regardless of the type of violence observed.
Of the reported incidents of violence, men were more likely to be targeted by harassment and violence than women; while women were more likely than men to be targeted by impersonation. In all categories, mixed-gender groups were the most frequently targeted.
Of the incidents that were reported by observers, 38% targeted voters, while 31% were against election officials, 23% were against party agents, and 8% were against observers.
One question that CEON’s observers were asked to report on was the breakdown of polling officials by gender: 27% of the officials at the polling stations observed were women.
CEON-U trained observers to report on hate speech, violence and intimidation against women candidates and their supporters. Of the reports received, only 8% of observers reported any acts of this gender-based violence.
98% of CEON-U’s observers reported that they had not witnessed or heard of any attacks against election officials, including acts of intimidation.
85% of observers reported that they did not witness or hear of attacks on women candidates or their supporters; of those that did witness or hear of such attacks, most reports came from credible third parties.
