The institution of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms recommended to the Parliament of Montenegro that, within the Committee for Comprehensive Reform of Electoral Legislation, it should approach changes to the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament, in such a way that at least 40 percent of the electoral list must be women, instead of the current 30 percent.
"That is to say that among every three candidates according to the order on the list, there must be at least one candidate belonging to the less represented gender", it is stated in the recommendation of the Deputy Protector Nerma Dobardžić.
In addition to calling for changes to the Law, the complainants also pointed to the urgency of the procedure, because, as they state, local elections will be organized in the coming period, "and possibly parliamentary ones, where the discrimination of voting rights would continue".
In June, they should be held in most Montenegrin municipalities and Podgorica. Among them are early elections in Budva and Tivat. In last month's elections in Berane, there were lists on which the legally prescribed share of 30 percent was not met.
The Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) announced at the beginning of the month that there is no party headed by a woman in the Parliament, and last year we were in almost the same rank as Afghanistan in terms of the percentage of female MPs.
The Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in its Concluding Observations on the Second Periodic Report of Montenegro states that the Law that provides for a quota of 30 percent for women candidates on the election lists of political parties does not require that every third position on the list be assigned to women candidates, which is why it recommends that revise the quota to ensure that at least one female candidate is on the electoral lists of political parties in each group of three candidates.
The Deputy Protector reminds that with the amendments to the Law from 2011, as a special measure, a quota system was introduced by prescribing the obligation to have at least 30 percent of candidates of the less represented gender on the electoral list. However, Dobardžić points out that this model did not give the expected results in strengthening the parliamentary representation of women because they were generally ranked at the bottom of the party lists, with no real chance of being elected. This gave rise to the amendments to the Law from 2014 to introduce an additional guarantee according to which at least one candidate must be a member of the less represented gender on the electoral list among every four candidates according to the order of the list.
Despite certain legislative advances in the direction of strengthening gender equality and the political representation of women, the electoral quotas failed to ensure more than 23.45 percent of women MPs. For example, in 2012, women made up 13.58 percent of the total number of deputies - 81, in 2016, they made up 23,45 percent, and in 2020, they made up 22,22 percent.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women obliges the signatory states to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country, including ensuring equal conditions for women and men in terms of the right to vote in all elections and public referendums and to have the right to election to all bodies for which public elections are held.
"No less important incentive for greater participation of women in decision-making processes are intra-party quotas for women, as well as the establishment of intra-party women's forums. In this sense, as a representative example, the protector points out the quota system in intra-party processes in Sweden, in accordance with which the Social Democratic Labor Party introduced a quota of 40 percent as the minimum representation of both sexes at all party levels, with the explanation that it thus provides an answer to the structural discrimination of women, that would have expanded the quota to 1990 percent in 50 and ensured equal political representation of both sexes," Dobardžić stated in his opinion.
Dobardžić recommended to the Assembly that the electoral legislation reform process be accompanied by transparency, i.e. broad consultations with the participation of all interested entities.
Women's Club: A government with only one minister is not progressive
Yesterday, the Parliamentary Women's Club asked the representative for the composition of the minority Government, Dritan Abazović, to take care of gender balance, after, according to the media, only one of at least 18 ministries could be headed by a woman. The vice-president of the URA Civic Movement, Jovana Marović, should take over the Ministry of European Affairs.
"Because if these announcements turn out to be true, then such a government and such a mandate cannot be considered either European or progressive because this would be a huge step backwards", warned in a statement the co-presidents of the Women's Club Branka Bošnjak and Vesna Pavićević.
Bošnjak and Pavićević said that they expect all political actors who will participate in or support the minority government not to allow less than 30 percent of women in it.
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