The Philippines enters a full election season with the start of the campaigning for local candidates while Sri Lanka announced the May 6 as election day for the local council polls. Members in those countries have been continuously implementing programs and activities to ensure electoral integrity.

LENTE has been conducting various voter education programs and engaging various electoral stakeholders while NAMFREL volunteers have been participating in activities that promote peaceful elections. NAMFREL is looking for volunteers to monitor on Election Day. PPCRV is also preparing election monitoring for the national and local elections in the Philippines.

PAFFREL in Sri Lanka, meanwhile, launched a video campaign series raising awareness on elections in Sri Lanka.

International Women’s Day

March marks the International Women’s Day where we shed light on the plight of women from different sectors and demand better inclusion.

Particularly for women in politics and governance, “women’s representation in political leadership remained critically low in 2024,” according to UN Women. Only five women were elected as heads of state out of 31 direct presidential elections held worldwide while “women’s representation in parliament remained stagnant at 27% in 2024.” (Know more about women’s representation in global politics in 2024 and beyond in Issue No. 14 of ANFREL’s “Data Dive”)

Women leaders from ANFREL member organizations discussed in Episode 04 of “The Election Observer” podcast issues and challenges that women face in engaging and participating in democratic processes like elections and identified possible solutions to improve representation and inclusion in governance and policy making.

Here are some of the highlights of the programs and activities that ANFREL members implemented and conducted in March 2025:

• Odhikar commemorates International Women’s Day, pays tribute to courageous women part of July-August 2024 revolution in Bangladesh
• COMFREL, Women for All Group to organize workshop ‘Harvesting Result of Promoting Women’s Participation in Politics and Decision-Making’
• Lokniti-CSDS, Common Cause launch report on understanding police’s attitudes towards torture and normalization of its use
• BERSIH welcomes passage of two bills as steps towards parliamentary autonomy in Malaysia
• Transparency Maldives calls for fair and transparent investigation into allegations of threats vs journalists
• FAFEN notes women parliamentarians in Pakistan contribute nearly half of agenda in 2024-25

Know more about the programs and activities that ANFREL members implemented and conducted in the March 2025 issue of the ANFREL Members Roundup. Subscribe here to get the latest updates!