Community groups, political parties and the government in Cameroon have been appealing to women to vote in elections on Sunday. They are telling the women not to fear threats made by separatist groups. The separatists claim they will stop the local and parliamentary elections.

喀麦隆的社区团体、政党和政府 一直呼吁妇女参与周日的选举投票。他们告诉这些妇女不要害怕分裂主义组织的威胁。分裂分子声称他们将阻止地方选举和议会选举。

Female candidates and women who campaigned for other candidates fear their efforts may lead to nothing at all if women do not come out to vote.

女性候选人和支持其他候选人的女性担心，如果妇女不出来投票，她们的努力可能会白费。

Representatives of non-governmental organizations and government ministries joined political parties at campaign events in the capital city, Yaounde. They say they did this as part of a special campaign for women to perform their civic duties.

非政府组织和政府各部门的代表们 参与在首都雅温得举办的政治党派的竞选活动。他们表示，此举作为专项活动的一部分，目的在于呼吁妇女履行其公民义务。

Alvine Yinda is a candidate of the Cameroon People Democratic Movement. She told VOA she likes the appeal to women because if they fail to vote on Election Day, men hold an unfair advantage.

埃尔文·银达是喀麦隆人民民主运动的候选人。她告诉美国之音，她赞成呼吁女性参与投票的做法，因为如果女性不参加选举日的投票，男性就会拥有不公平的优势。

Yinda said that her party's female candidates decided to urge all women who are registered to come out to vote on February 9.

银达称，其所在党的女性候选人决定敦促所有登记的妇女于2月9日现身参加投票。

She says they are working with all the political parties to make sure women take part in the decision-making process. Mumah Bih Yvonne is national coordinator of the non-governmental organization Cameroon Women's Peace Movement.

她表示，他们正在与所有政党合作，确保女性参与这一决策过程。Mumah Bih Yvonne是非政府组织“喀麦隆妇女和平运动”的国家协调员。

She says its goal is for women to support lists that have a majority of female candidates. "Women have a different way of looking at governance. But if we are not there to influence policies, how do we get that level playing ground that we (women) are looking for," she asked.

她表示，该组织的目标是让女性支持拥有大多数女性候选人的名单列表。 “女性对国家治理有不同的看法。 但是，如果我们不站出来去影响政策， 我们如何才能得到我们（女性）所寻求的公平竞争环境呢？” 她问道。

The president of Cameroon, Paul Biya, called the elections last November. Before then, groups of women led by the NGO More Women in Politics visited towns and villages asking women to compete for political office.

去年11月，喀麦隆总统保罗·比亚在选举中胜出连任。在此之前，由非政府组织“更多女性参与政治”带头的女性团队去到城镇和乡村，呼吁妇女竞选政治职位。

Traditionally, many women do not vote because their husband or their communities limit their participation. Some women fail to vote because they are unable to read or write.

从传统上说，许多妇女不参与投票是因为她们的丈夫或所在社区限制其参与。还有些妇女因不识字而无法参与投票。

This year, some observers fear the number of female voters will decrease because of a separatist conflict in Cameroon's Northwest and Southwest. Armed groups are fighting to separate English-speaking areas from the French-speaking majority country. At least 3,000 have died in the fighting.

今年，一些观察员担心，女性选民人数将会减少，因为喀麦隆西北和西南区发生分裂主义叛乱。武装组织试图将英语区从这个讲法语占多数的国家中分裂出来。 至少有3000人在战斗中丧生。

Most voters in the Northwest and Southwest have moved to safer areas. The election commission says it has taken special measures to make sure they can vote on Sunday.

西北和西南地区的大多数选民已迁往更安全的地区。选举委员会表示，已采取特殊措施以确保这些选民可以参加周日的投票。

Within the past week,two political parties reported that the separatists attacked four campaign teams and kidnapped at least 20 people.

在过去一周内，两个政党报告称，分裂分子袭击了4个竞选团队，绑架了至少20人。

More than 40 percent of Cameroon's nearly nine million voters are female. Women make up about 52 percent of the population.

喀麦隆近900万选民中有40％以上是女性。妇女约占总人口的52％。

But just 31 percent of the 180 lawmakers at the National Assembly and 21 percent of the senators are women.

但是，在国会180名议员中，只有31%是女性；参议员中，只有21%是女性。

I'm Susan Shand.

苏珊·尚德报道。