5 be treated in a discriminatory manner by any person acting by virtue of any written law or in the performance of the functions of any public office or any public authority”, section 23, 3 (b) overrides the guarantee by positing that “the application of African customary law in any case involving Africans where such persons have consented to the application of African customary law supersedes the Roman-Dutch law." What this effectively means is that, in cases where the application of customary law is called in, there are instances where the discrimination of women is allowed by the constitution. Observer missions then, should look at such issues especially where they are suspected of promoting family voting which can deprive women of their right to cast a secret and independent ballot. Apart from the noted provisions of the constitution and international and regional conventions, observer missions should assess whether there are any legal obstacles that might impede upon women participation in elections as voters, candidates or elected leaders. (B) Cultural practices Gender, unlike sex, is a social construction deeply rooted in the ideological philosophies and cultural practices obtaining in societies. For this reason, there is need for observer missions and any body tasked with observing elections to be conversant with the various belief systems in particular societies where elections are taking place in order that various practices that might impeach upon the full and free participation of women in elections are exposed and, at times, redressed so that the democratic will of people is reflected in the electoral process. Observers should, therefore be on the look-out for patterns among particular minority ethnic or religious groups among which women’s participation is lower among the general population. This would serve as important leads to investigation on why such trends are being recorded. (C) The Electoral System An electoral system can easily be understood as a way in which votes are translated into seats. There are hundreds of electoral systems currently in use and many more permutations on each form. However, there are three broad families of electoral systems