The gender quota for the posts of local and district councilors will be applied in this autumn’s local general elections in Moldova, said the president of the Association “Institutum Virtutes Civiles” Liliana Palihovici. According to her, the gender quota for the post of mayor cannot be applied and the women should therefore show professionalism and courage and should run in elections so as to increase the chances of being elected, IPN reports.
Liliana Palihovici said the organization she manages launched the Academy of Female Leadership and Good Governance intended for the local elections of 2023. The program will ensure the training of women who are willing to take part in this autumn’s elections, contributing this way to increasing the representation of women in public posts at local and national levels.
“This summer, we plan to train over 300 women who intend to run in the local general elections this year. For us, the party they represent or if they are firmly determined to register as a candidate in the local elections or not does not matter for us when they apply to be chosen for our program. The fact that they think about running and have motivation is already important. My hope is that at least 30-40% of the women we will train now will register as candidates for the local elections. Currently, about 25% of the posts of mayor in the Republic of Moldova are held by women. Also, over 35% of the local councilors are women. If we analyze the number of female district heads, we will see that there is only one woman serving as district head,” Liliana Palihovici stated in the program “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei channel.
The elections of November 5, 2023 are the first local general elections in Moldova which will take place with a gender quota. The lists of candidates for councilor will be compiled by taking into account the representation quota of 40%, which means that there should be at least four women for each ten places.
“In the last parliamentary elections, when the double gender quota was applied, we saw the effects of such application. 40% of the seats of MP were occupied by women. The local elections were never held by applying the double quota. It will be first time now. That’s why I’m hopeful that the representation of women in district and local councils will improve. As regards female mayors, the quota here cannot be applied. Hence, the women should be more vocal, more persuasive, better prepared to conduct a correct election campaign and increase their chances of being elected,” said the president of “Institutum Virtutes Civiles”.
Under the new Election Code, the age from which persons can run for mayor in this autumn’s local elections is 23, down from 25 earlier. Data of the Central Election Commission show that about 42,000 women are in this age bracket.
