Regardless of the political changes at the level of society, perceptions and stereotypes, the double quota system ensures the minimum representation of 40% for both sexes on the lists of candidates, said experts of the Center “Partnership for Development” (CPD), who carried out a study of the representation of women and men in elective posts in district and local councils. However, the research shows that the women are placed on less eligible positions.

In a news conference hosted by IPN, CPD expert Alina Andronache said that the gender quota was introduced in the legislation in 2016. The law stipulates that in the local and parliamentary elections, when compiling the lists of candidates, the political parties should ensure a minimum representation of 40% for both sexes. In 2019, the double quota system was introduced and the placing provisions were added to the 40% provisions and these stipulate that three places per each ten places should be occupied by persons of the opposite sex.

Alina Andronache considers that despite the placing provisions, the parties continue to put women on the last places per each ten candidates. This shows that the quota, without placing provisions, wouldn’t have worked. Until 2019, even if the women were on lists of candidates, they were always on the last places. The current legal provisions increase the women’s chances to win posts.

“We do not see this problem and gender discrepancy in local councils as the gender representation in local councils is more or less equitable. Yes, on the first place, we still have 32% of women versus 70% of men. But further, on the second, third and fourth places, we see more or less equitable representation, which means that the women’s chance to obtain posts increase further. The data underscore that the female candidates are present in a much higher number among candidates for local councils. In the elections, they won more posts on local councils than on district and municipal councils,” said the CPD expert.

CPD director Natalia Covrig noted that in this year’s local elections, the women reached the proportion of 45.3% of all the candidates for posts on district/municipal councils and over 47% of all the candidates for posts on local councils. “We clearly see that over 40% of the candidates in these elections were women and this shows that the legislative provisions concerning the 40% quota and the way in which the lists should be compiled work. Implicitly, this influenced the way in which the women and the men were represented in this campaign,” stated Natalia Covrig.

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