Voting It was a common observation of the 2013 elections that urban voters experienced more problems in voting than their rural counterparts, and this holds true for the women sampled in this study. The differences were not great in actual numbers, but the differences were statistically significant. It is noteworthy that urban women did not see the elections as free and fair (see Table 7), but rather, in contrast to their rural counterparts, saw many problems with the elections. Rural women reported two significant irregularities (personally) with greater frequency than their urban counterparts, and these were witnessing violence against women candidates and women participating in political violence against other women. These were not reported with any great frequency, but nonetheless were more likely to occur in rural areas, as has been commonly reported in the past. Urban women, on the other hand, reported not finding their names on the voters’ roll with significantly greater frequency. Table 5: Voting in 2013 [rural vs. urban] Rural % given first 0% 0% 0% Decided not to Vote Prevented from Voting Name not in register Urban 3%* 3%* 3%* *(p=0.01) When it came to witnessing irregularities, rather than any direct personal experience of these, then there was much greater difference between rural and urban women, as seen in Table 6. Every one of these irregularities was significantly more frequent for urban women, and all were noted to be more frequent by observers to the 2013 elections. Table 6: Irregularities observed in 2013 [rural vs. urban] Witness People being bused to polling station Witness People voting more than once Witness People being turned away Witness People being Referred to more than one voting ward Witnessed Violence Against Woman Candidate Witness Women in Violence Against other Woman Rural 0.5% 0.7% 20% 1% Urban 2.3%* 3.4%* 34%* 11%* 5%* 4%* 2% 2% *(p=0.01) The women were also asked about whether they thought that the elections were “free and fair”, that there had been constraints put on their choices in voting; i.e. “were they free to choose in voting?” As can be seen from Table 7 once again there were significant differences between the rural and urban groups. Rural women felt overwhelmingly that the elections were free and fair. Table 7:Satisfaction with election [rural vs. urban] Freedom of choice [Not Very Free] Freedom of choice [Somewhat Free] Freedom of choice [Completely Free] Election outcome [Not Free & Fair] Election outcome ]Free & Fair with Major Problems] Election outcome [Free & Fair with Minor Problems] Election outcome [Completely Free & Fair] Elections reflected will of the voters Page 11 Rural 0% 3%* 78%* 0% 0% 2.3% * 80%* 43% Urban 10%* 0% 4% 17%* 23%* 0.2% 2% 77%*