The new Parliament of the Republic of Moldova elected as a result of the snap parliamentary elections of July 11, 2021 includes 40 women, which is 39.6% of the MPs. This is a record number of female MPs in the history of Moldova’s Parliament. The previous record was set in 2019, when 25.7% of all the MPs were women, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the Parliament’s press service.
The Electoral Bloc of the Communists and the Socialists has almost equal representation - 13 of its 31 MPs are women or 40.63%. The situation is similar in the case of the Party of Action and Solidarity - 25 women of 63 MPs or 39.68%. In the case of the Shor Party, the female MPs represent 33.33% – two women of the six elected MPs.
The Republic of Moldova implemented measures to stimulate the women’s participation in elections. In 2016, there were amendments to the legislation concerning the minimum representation quota of 40% for both of the sexes when forming the Government and the administrative bodies of political parties and when compiling the lists of candidates for national and local elections.
In 2020, the highest number of female members of national Parliaments was recorded in Sweden (about 50%), Finland (46%), Belgium (43%) and Spain (42%), while the lowest one – in Hungary and Malta (both with 13%), Romania and the Czech Republic (both with 20%).
