from 20 councils in 7 Regions400, about democracy and the importance of female participation in politics. 751- To encourage women to vie for positions, some political parties adopted good practices of demanding female representation of at least 30% on their electoral lists401. Indeed, ELECAM went ahead to systematically reject lists which had no consideration for gender and this was confirmed during the electoral litigation that followed. - Results of Women’s Participation in Politics 752- During senatorial elections in 2013, out of 476 candidates, 115 were women. Out of this number, 47 were elected with 18 substantive members and 29 alternate members. The Presidential Decree appointing 30 senators on 8 May 2012 raised the number of female senators to 54, representing 20%. On the contrary, at the National Assembly, for the first time women reached the 30% margin given that they had never exceeded 15% before. At the end of the different elections organised in 2013 and in 2018, the results are as follows: Table No 8. 1: Evolution of the participation of female Substantive Members of National Assembly Term of Number of Members of Number of % Office National Assembly Women 120 12 10 1978-1983 120 17 14.2 1983-1988 180 26 14.4 1988-1992 180 23 12.8 1992-1997 180 10 5.6 1997-2002 180 20 11.1 2002-2007 180 25 13.9 2007-2012 180 56 31 2013-2019 Source: National Assembly Table No. 9: Evolution of the participation of female Substantive Senators Term of Office Number of Senators Number of Women 100 20 2013-2018 100 26 2018-2023 Source: Senate 753- The representation of female local councils and as municipal authorities significantly increased move from zero female Mayor in 1982 to 23 female Mayors in 2004, meanwhile the percentage of municipal counsellors moved from 6.6% to 15.5% over the same period. The table below illustrates this. Table No. 10: Evolution of women’s participation in the management of councils Term of Office Number Counsellors 5,345 1987-1992 1992-1997 9,932 1997-2002 9,963 2002-2007 10,632 2007-2012 10,632 2013-2019 Source: MINDDEVEL 400 of Number Women 446 1061 1,302 1651 of % 8.3 10.7 13.1 15.5 Number of female-Mayors 1 2 10 23 30 Centre, Littoral, South, West, North-West, South-West and East Regions. These were internal rules at the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement during the legislative and municipal elections of 2013 and senatorial elections of 2018. 125 401