Pawa Blong Meri: Women Candidates in the 2015 Bougainville Election

Pawa Blong Meri: Women Candidates in the 2015 Bougainville Election

This Discussion Paper examines the question of how women contest and win elections in Bougainville, through an analysis of the campaign experiences of successful, near-successful and less successful women candidates. It adds to the empirical literature on women’s political representation in the region through an in-depth study of women candidates in the 2015 Bougainville election: their profiles, motivations and campaign strategies. Furthermore, it analyses the impacts of three issues that emerged as common themes in discussions around women’s participation in political decision making in Bougainville: the electoral system, money politics and matrilineal traditions.