Participation of National Minorities and Women

TIRANA, Feb. 19 – The international community reminded that Albania had a very low participation of women in the elections. The preliminary report on Monday said that “women were rarely selected as candidates. Of the 1,073 mayoral candidates, only 33 were women (3 per cent). A number of political parties established internal gender quotas (in some cases, up to 50 per cent), but it remains to be seen how these quotas will be affected by the possible re-ranking. In 16 per cent of voting centers visited, they were chaired by women. There is an absence of reliable current official data on national minorities in Albania. However, it is widely accepted that the largest minority grouping is the Greek Albanian community. In addition, Bulgarian, ethnic Macedonian, Roma, Serb, and Vlach communities live in Albania. A number of election-related issues arose within the Roma community during these elections. Specific problems were noted with their inclusion in the voter lists, since many Roma were either not properly registered in their place of residence or not registered at all.