Earlier this month, Exit reported that the Socialist Party (PS) scores worst in terms of young candidates and gender equality of all parties participating in the elections, but the recently published candidate lists of the Democratic Party (PD) show an even more skewed picture.
According to the Electoral Code art. 67(6), at least 30% of the candidate list, as well as one in three names on them, should be female. Not fulfilling this requirement leads to a penalty of 1 million lekë per candidate list.
Whereas the KQZ fined the PS 1 million lekë for not adhering to the gender quota on its candidate list for Berat, the PD fails to meet the gender quota in 11 out of 12 counties. And in none of the candidate lists, every third candidate is female.
The worst performer is the candidate list for Kukës, where 100% of all four candidates are male. The best is the Gjirokastra list, where the PD actually meets the quota of 30%.
In total, a meager 21%, or 41 out of 195 candidates is female. By comparison, the PS scores 36%, LSI 42%, and PDIU 45%. All these parties perform significantly better in terms of gender equality.
If we look at eligible positions, the PD scores slightly better, 22%. But it should be noted that nearly half of its female deputies (5) would come from Tirana County, whereas Elbasan, Fier, Kukës, Gjirokastra, and Berat would not have a single female representative.
