June 5 local elections are last opportunity for increasing women's presence in public life

The female candidates running in the June 5 local elections will be taught to communicate efficiently with the voters and to devise campaign messages. A relevant initiative was put forward by the Parliament of Moldova and the UN. The institutions aim thus to contribute to increasing the women's participation and representation in decision making at local level, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on Wednesday, Deputy Head of Parliament Liliana Palihovoci said the reason for proposing such an initiative is the low number of women taking part in the public life in Moldova. “Under this initiative, over 180 candidates will be provided support and consultancy within nine training seminars that will take place in Telenesti, Briceni, Ungheni, Hancesti and Cimislia districts. The seminars are open to women who represent parliamentary and extraparliamentary parties,” said Liliana Palihovici. She also said that the initiative to amend the Election Code by including a 30% quota for women representation in the lists of candidates running in elections is only one of the steps aimed at promoting women in public administration at national and local levels. UN Resident Coordinator in Moldova Kaarina Immonen told the same conference that the local elections are the last opportunity for increasing the women's presence in public life at local and district levels until 2015, which is the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. “In a democratic state, the participation of men and women in the political life and in decision making is a fundamental right. Balancing the share of men and women in these processes is an essential precondition,” said Kaarina Immonen. Moldova pledged to promote gender equality in executive posts and increase the women's representation to at least 40% in local councils, 25% in district councils, 25% in mayors' offices, and 30% in Parliament by 2015. Only 21 of the 101 members of Parliament are women. Only a woman holds the post of minister in Government. At local and regional levels, the women make up 26.5% in local councils, 13.2% in district councils, and 18% in mayors' officers.