Only 28% of candidates for MP are women, Progen Alliance

The November 28 early legislative elections are characterized by a traditionally poor presence of women on the lists of candidates. Only 28.4% of the election runners are women. This is a rather low percentage as the female voters make up 53%. The men constitute 71.6% of the candidates. The finding was made public by the Progen Alliance – Elections 2010 and the Partnership for Development Center. According to the information provided in a news conference held at Info-Prim Neo on Tuesday, 558 of the 1,962 candidates are women. Only 33 of them are on the first ten positions on the lists of the parties. Thus, women’s chances of entering Parliament are diminished, said Vasile Cantarji, a sociologist with CBS-AXA. Only five of the 19 independent candidates are women. A study of the platforms for the forthcoming elections shows that the political parties do not respect the principle of gender equality, said the executive director of the Partnership for Development Center Daniela Terzi-Barbarosie. According to her, no political party aims to strengthen the policies and institutional framework for gender equality, while the electoral platforms do not address gender equality. In the print media, the women candidates appear in pictures only together with the men, not separately. The Partnership for Development Center and the Progen Alliance, which includes the Womens’ Political Club 50/50, “Gender-Centru” and the Forum of Women’s Organizations, say the women should be included not only in the electoral lists, but also in the offer of the political parties. Earlier, the Progen Alliance said the statutes of only three of the 20 parties running in elections specify quotas of women representation in the electoral lists and only the National Liberal Party respects this provision. The Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) and the Social-Democratic Party (PSD) have such stipulations in their statues, but do not implement them. Only 24.3% of the candidates of the PLDM and 28.7% of the candidates of the PSD are women. Towards the end of the election campaign, the Progen Alliance – Elections 2010 will offer a prize to the party that will observe the principle of gender equality.