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SARAJEVO, December 22 (FENA) - The Commission for Gender Equality of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PSBiH) organized today a thematic session entitled "Analysis of the results of local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2020 through a gender perspective", in cooperation with the BiH Agency for Gender Equality of the BiH Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees and the project "Women in Elections Bosnia and Herzegovina", funded by the Government of Sweden and implemented by UNDP with the support of UN Women.
Chairman of the Commission for Gender Equality of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of BiH Adil Osmanović believes that the Election Law of BiH should be fully harmonized with the Law on Gender Equality, through, as he said, 50 percent participation of women on candidate lists, adding that the priority of the parliamentary commission is political women's participation and empowerment in politics and public life.
Commenting on the results of the past local elections through the participation and election of women to the positions of mayors and municipal councilors, Osmanović stated that he was not satisfied with the percentage of elected women, since only about 20 percent of candidates were elected to those positions, which is 20 percent less from what is prescribed by the applicable legal norms. In this regard, he said, it is necessary to focus on working with political parties in which there are enough quality and capable women, who should equally participate in the legislative and executive branches at all levels in BiH.
He stressed the need, in accordance with the Law on Gender Equality in BiH, to pass a new law on political parties, which would oblige parties to establish by statutes the principles and mechanisms of equal gender representation in party bodies and on electoral lists.
In her address, the director of the BiH Agency for Gender Equality, Samra Filipović-Hadžiabdić, emphasized that the issue of gender equality in elections is a structural issue, which, as she said, requires engagement in passing policies and laws, in order to enable women equality and economic independence.
Therefore, as she explained, this issue is one of the priorities in the Gender Action Plan of BiH, as well as in the process of integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the European Union, through the adoption of European standards of gender equality.
Member of the Central Election Commission of BiH Suad Arnautović also addressed the participants, presenting the analysis of the results of women's participation in the BiH election process, emphasizing that there are more women than men in the electorate of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but that, despite that fact, women in municipal and city councils, and in the positions of mayors significantly lower than men.
In this regard, Arnautović added that since 2008, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of elected women, but that this percentage is still low in relation to the norms prescribed by law. As an example, he stated that in the last local elections, only five mayors and 603 women were elected to municipal city councils, which, as he said, amounts to only 19.66 percent of the number of candidates.
The participants of the thematic session were greeted by the UNDP Resident Representative in BiH Steliana Nedera, UN Women Representative David Saunders, as well as the representative of the Swedish Embassy in charge of the implementation of the project "Women in Elections in BiH" Mario Vignjević. On behalf of UNDP and UN Women, this project was presented by Lejla Ramić-Mesihović and Edita Miftari, who emphasized that respect for the Law on Gender Equality of BiH and greater representation of women in politics and decision-making positions of our country's obligations in the process of joining the European Union and in the process of meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the PABiH said.
(FENA) L. N.
