The Chief Electoral Officer in Kiribati says the number of women contesting tomorrow's national elections has more than doubled compared to 2011.
Photo: Supplied
Takiakia Beneteti says the 18 women candidates registered for this year's elections is a 260 percent increase from the five that contested in 2011.
Mrs Beneteti says she believes the higher level of participation by women stems from a series of awareness campaigns run by groups such as UN Women.
She says the electoral commission has also carried out awareness programmes for women voters who are sometimes excluded from the democratic process.
"The weakness is women because we are very depend by the culture that is where men go first and sometimes women might think that their right is not quite useful because they send their husbands for vote or to register for elections."
Takiakia Beneteti says four out of the five women candidates who contested the 2011 elections were successfully elected.
Polling stations open at 6:00am local time and close at 6:00pm.
