Content_paragraphs: The joint efforts of MINUSCA and the United Nations country team to support 
  
  women’s participation in all stages of the elections,  as voters and candidates, helped 
  
  to increase the representation of women in the new Parliament. The electoral process, 
  
  however, confirmed that sociocultural barriers continued to impede women’s full, 
  
  equal and meaningful participation in political life, including gender bias, a lack of 
  
  political will and the deteriorating security situation.