Cultivating Perceptions: Similar or Different for Women MPs on Reserved and Open Seats
There are primary expectations of MPs’ representative role, including legislating significant concerns and policy, focusing on constituency service and advocacy, representing their constituencies through showing interest in policy that affects constituents, and raising questions about concerns that pertain to particular constituents. Another expectation is attending local council meetings to get the public’s views to channel to the executive for attention and redress (Kaduuli 2018:5). To meet the constituency presence condition, MPs must have a local functional office at the constituency for liaison purposes. The local office enables constituents to present grievances and concerns to the MP and executive without the MP’s presence. Although most MPs have such an office, some MPs do not have a local office.
Even though voters value the presence of a local office, MPs’ presence in the constituencies is appreciated the most; unfortunately, it is uncommon for MPs to spend time in the constituencies due to their many political engagements. According to field reports, most MPs do not attend local council meetings or participate in community activities. ‘Both our MPs do not attend council meetings; they only do when it is beneficial to them and when they need the community’s support’ (FGDs, Oyam 2021). Most members of Parliament who return only to be voted back are ridiculed and are likely to be denied votes.
The visibility of a member of Parliament in the constituency is an essential aspect of effective representation. ‘People will most probably vote for a leader who is always available and able to address their concerns’ (UWONET 2016 P:19). In Gulu, Pader, and Kitgum, all representatives perceived as unavailable lost their seats in the 2021 elections. Although most women who kept in touch with constituencies were reelected, some, despite their excellent record, lost the 2021 elections. They attributed their failure to propaganda and blackmail in campaigns by opponents and male MPs they outshined in constituencies. What women MPs choose to do or not to do based on their mandate as representatives has consequences on voters’ perceptions of them, either negatively or positively. It all depends on the characteristics and expectations of voters. Perceptions fundamentally influence electoral outcomes; MPs want to exploit their advantage for electoral success. Elections are unlikely to be successful if there is a disagreement between the opinions of voters and representatives (Shabad and Slomczynski 2011). Voters’ perceptions usually correspond with the actions of the MP in question. As analysed subsequently, women’s strategies of nurturing perceptions differ due to women’s interests and contextual factors rather than seat type.
Presence in the Constituency
MPs’ presence in the constituency is an avenue for cultivating and maintaining positive voter perceptions. The voters see women in the reserved seats as more available and approachable than women in the open seats despite representing large constituencies (FGD Oyam 2020; FGD Gulu, 2020; FGD Pader 2020). The women in reserved seats do a double representation of the district and individual constituencies—illustrating the ambiguous nature of the representation of constituencies by women MPs in reserved seats. Although dual representation poses a disadvantage of duplication of roles and overwhelming responsibility, it ensures more popularity of women MPs in reserved seats within the districts relative to MPs representing single county constituencies.