The number of women standing in local elections in Armenia has barely changed from four years ago, despite government pledges to increase participation. Activists are now saying it might be is time for local polls to be subject to the same gender quotas as national elections.
In a first round of local elections held on September 9, only nine women were elected to a total of 397 posts as mayor or local government chief. All nine already held the post and were simply re-elected. If women ended up winning only two per cent of the posts, it would have been hard for them to do much better since only five per cent of those who stood for these municipal posts were female. More than a third of female candidates pulled out before election day.
“In terms of [female] candidate participation, the numbers are almost the same [as the last polls]; the change is insignificant change, a difference of only ten,” Tigran Mukuchyan, head of Armenia’s Central Election Commission, said.
Read more at Institute for War and Peace Reporting, publishing 14 September 2012.
The number of women standing in local elections in Armenia has barely changed from four years ago, despite government pledges to increase participation. Activists are now saying it might be is time for local polls to be subject to the same gender quotas as national elections.
In a first round of local elections held on September 9, only nine women were elected to a total of 397 posts as mayor or local government chief. All nine already held the post and were simply re-elected. If women ended up winning only two per cent of the posts, it would have been hard for them to do much better since only five per cent of those who stood for these municipal posts were female. More than a third of female candidates pulled out before election day.
“In terms of [female] candidate participation, the numbers are almost the same [as the last polls]; the change is insignificant change, a difference of only ten,” Tigran Mukuchyan, head of Armenia’s Central Election Commission, said.
Read more at Institute for War and Peace Reporting, publishing 14 September 2012.