After the local elections of November 2023, the election process in Moldova has approached the equitable representation of female and male candidates. In these elections, the women represented over 45% of all the candidates for posts in district/municipal councils and in local councils. At the same time, the women who run independently aim to enter rather the local council. They contended and were elected mainly in villages and communes, shows a study presented by the Center “Partnership for Development” (CPD).

In a news conference at IPN, CPD expert Alina Andronache said that in the general local elections of November 5, the double quota system was also mandatory for political parties when these compiled the lists of candidates for municipal, district and local councils. “For us, it is very important to see the results, how this system of double quota was applied and, in general, how we evolved and at what stage we are now in terms of gender representation in these posts in the local public administration,” stated Alina Andronache.

According to the expert, in the general local elections of November 5, over 11,000 councilors were elected for a four-year term, including over 1,000 district and municipal councilors and almost 10,000 town and village councilors.

“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 CPD director Natalia Covrig.

The study shows that against the elections of 2019, when the legislative provisions concerning the 40% quota and the way in which the lists should be compiled were applied the first time, the rise in the number of female candidates is of only 2% in the case of district councils and of 1.4% in the case of local councils. But against the local elections of 2015, when these provisions didn’t exist, the rise in the case of district/municipal councils in 2023 is of over 15%, while for local councils is of over 12%. “We this way see that the given legislative provisions work and, as long as they exist, in the next elections we will continue to have a rise in the number of female candidates,” opined Natalia Covrig.

The CPD director noted that most of the female candidates for councilor were designated by political parties and this fact confirms again that the parties were somehow obliged by the legal provisions to ensure the female candidates represented minimum 40% of the candidates on slates.

“We calculate also the gender loss, which is the difference between the number of female candidates and the humbler of women who effectively won the term. In 2023, the gender loss is lower compared with the previous elections and this shows once again that the legal provisions on positioning work and an increasing number of women win a term in office,” said Natalia Covrig.

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