Well, yes, but African elites are quite keen on appearing modern, so you would have some people who would back more women in parliament because it’s the modern thing to do.
There’s been talk in Sierra Leone of Christiana Thorpe being drafted for presidential candidate of the All People’s Congress after Koroma finishes his second term, for example – the villages probably wouldn’t vote for her, but the cities probably would. Thorpe (a former nun who lost her vocation) is head of the National Electoral Commission, and apparently has a low tolerance for nonsense. Certainly, the NEC seemed to produce a free and fair election in Sierra Leone last 2012.
She probably won’t be a candidate for any party (her NEC role would conflict, I think, and she’s getting on a bit), but the fact that people are talking about it at all is significant, in a context where politicians are usually Big Men (think Charlie Haughey or Michael Lowry).
