ALBANIA: Local Elections
Albania holds local elections on 8 May 2011.
The voters will be electing mayors and local councils in 384 municipalities. The mayors are elected by majority system and the members of the council will be elected by the proportional system. The elections were administrated by theCentral Election Commission of Albania.
The two coalitions taking part in the 2011 local elections were the Coalition for the Citizen (Aleanca për Qytetarin) formed by theDemocratic Party of Albaniaand Coalition for the Future (Aleanca për të Ardhmen) formed by theSocialist Party of Albania.
To share your views on the role and experiences of women throughout this election process, please use the comment section below.
Threatening factors of Albanian's women effective participation
To follow up on the previous comment I would like to share following remarks.
In 2009 UNDP and Central Election Commission of Albania organized discussion with Law faculty students at the University of Tirana. During the discussion Ms. Vera Shtjefni, one of the two women members of the Albanian Central Election Commission underlined the importance of the newly introduced 30% quota of representation for men and women.
Other remarks underlined the threatening factors of women’s effective participation in decision-making. Such as:
1. In some regions of Albania, women are being prevented from freely casting their own vote by such practices as “family voting”.
2. Women continue to be underrepresented in elected bodies. They remain a minority in decision-making; power, both in the political and economic arena is still firmly in men’s hands and women’s interests are unevenly voiced.
Gender in Local elections
Although, Albania adopted the country first quota system in the Law on Equality in Society (July 2008) and within the Electoral Code (December 2008), the number of elected candidates women have largely been excluded as candidates for the 384 mayoral seats, with only 14 women candidates out of 874 mayoral candidates. For more infornation see- http://www.iknowpolitics.org/node/41673
Moreover, out off all elected candidates for mayor only two were women. For more information see – http://www.iknowpolitics.org/node/41954
Legal provisions regarding the election of municipal counselors, however, do carry a gender quota of 30 percent using a so-called ―zipper system, in which every third candidate down the party’s list must be of a gender other than the preceding two candidates. Parties have generally complied with this legal provision following considerable pressure from women’s groups—including women activists within the parties—to abide by the election code. Although, the failure to respect the quota results in a fine of only 30,000 lek, or 213 euro. Overall in the elections women did better in the municipal councils.
Those results are interesting, in particular if we consider that more than 45 percent of voters were women.
Threatening factors of Albanian's women effective participation
To follow up on the previous comment I would like to share following remarks.
In 2009 UNDP and Central Election Commission of Albania organized discussion with Law faculty students at the University of Tirana. During the discussion Ms. Vera Shtjefni, one of the two women members of the Albanian Central Election Commission underlined the importance of the newly introduced 30% quota of representation for men and women.
Other remarks underlined the threatening factors of women’s effective participation in decision-making. Such as:
1. In some regions of Albania, women are being prevented from freely casting their own vote by such practices as “family voting”.
2. Women continue to be underrepresented in elected bodies. They remain a minority in decision-making; power, both in the political and economic arena is still firmly in men’s hands and women’s interests are unevenly voiced.
Gender in Local elections
Although, Albania adopted the country first quota system in the Law on Equality in Society (July 2008) and within the Electoral Code (December 2008), the number of elected candidates women have largely been excluded as candidates for the 384 mayoral seats, with only 14 women candidates out of 874 mayoral candidates. For more infornation see- http://www.iknowpolitics.org/node/41673
Moreover, out off all elected candidates for mayor only two were women. For more information see – http://www.iknowpolitics.org/node/41954
Legal provisions regarding the election of municipal counselors, however, do carry a gender quota of 30 percent using a so-called ―zipper system, in which every third candidate down the party’s list must be of a gender other than the preceding two candidates. Parties have generally complied with this legal provision following considerable pressure from women’s groups—including women activists within the parties—to abide by the election code. Although, the failure to respect the quota results in a fine of only 30,000 lek, or 213 euro. Overall in the elections women did better in the municipal councils.
Those results are interesting, in particular if we consider that more than 45 percent of voters were women.