D4D publishs 2025 election report, women's largest representation required

This report has enumerated the participation of women politicians, who were told that it is a low figure compared to men, until gender equality is required in the June 7th election process.

Rezarta Krasniqi, from this institute, cited local elections and the number of women who have run for mayors in the country's municipalities.

“As you know, these are the local elections we've passed. These last elections, they just showed, as you've been through, in those 15 municipalities, we've had women who fought, while in some of the other municipalities, we haven't had a woman candidate for mayors, and on the basis of giving, I believe we had only 10% nominal women who have been engaged by political subjects to start the mayoral race. The domination of men in the running process shows a real challenge of promoting women within the political subject, as is their level, while the second group, which shows after the elections, had 37 mayors of men, elected by citizens, and only one mayoral wife of a municipality. It shows that representation is low in most cases and is a real support, but we can't say it's the real support of citizens, it's not the will of citizens, but it's what's served to citizens. So, even that reflects on the process of results”, Krasniqi said.

It also cited the law on gender equality, saying gender equality is achieved only when there is representation of 50 to 50.

“The nominations of political subjects and electoral support have listed political subjects from how many women have nominated in this direction, top the AAK and PDK political subjects, who have run by three women for mayors in the past elections, and then are of other levels, where male candidates have received a total of 98% of the responsible votes, or 880,000 votes, while women only about 16,000 come to the total vote on the basis of the results. In addition to the low representation of the candidacy, women have another challenge that they face, which is lack of such support, on the part of the electorate, as well as lack of support from political subjects, which is a topic that requires attention. We can also come from political subjects themselves, we mentioned the quota earlier, but the quota is the basis from which we cannot fall, but the political will is what can move it forward. Even in the gender equality law, even in the election law part, gender equality is said to be achieved when we have 50 to 50 equals, while 30 is the minimum from which we cannot go down, but usually goes to minimum on the part of political subjects. And from the nominations, we didn't go on much further with the presentation of women candidates, since they were only 20, and in this analysis you have other data, but it shows that women's representation of mayors is very unsymbolic and it's highly unproportional, to men running and it's far from reaching gender equality in this direction”, she said, online Economics, broadcast. Periscope

According to her, various barriers continue to exist even within the structures of political subjects for the advancement of women in this direction.

Various categories continue even within the structures of the political subjects for advancing women in this direction, as well as in assisting positions, both within the subject and within, municipalities in which political subjects operate. It has been very often discussed in the past year that 20 women, who were in 15 municipalities, being singled out as mayors, were exactly in municipalities that had very small opportunities to be elected as mayors, so this has also gone with the representation of votes in the same direction because political subjects where they had the strongest raid, when they know they had the most organised electorate, they know they get more votes, they have usually nominated men's names for mayors, and they haven't scored that direction. So even in the main municipalities, in the big municipalities, we have few women running in this direction, mostly we have in smaller municipalities and more scattered municipalities, where parties don't have a very strong vote bet on”, Krasniqi said.

On the other hand, Ronald Goldberg of the Dutch Embassy in Kosovo said that even though women are constantly competing in political processes, they are still not equal to men.

This report is very timely, given that Kosovo is hoping for new elections soon, and I look forward to discussing with representatives of political parties that are with us today. I am eager to learn more about the findings of the report on the 2025 local and parliamentary elections in Kosovo a testimony-based reflection, both of the progress achieved and of the challenges that remain.

As women continue to participate actively and competitively in political processes, structural barriers still hinder full and equal representation in decision-making institutions. And let me tell you clearly: this is not just the situation in Kosovo, but a reality that is encountered in many parts of the world”, Goldberg said.

Goldberg also said such reports offer politicians and political parties to draft new plans in the future.

“Such reports offer policymakers, political parties, relevant institutions, electoral institutions and civil society organisations the means needed to identify gaps and draft targeted interventions. I strongly hope that recommendations made by Democracy for Development in this report, based on research, will be taken into account by all parties involved in the political field”, Goldberg said.

He said democracies are powerful when women and men are equalised and empowered in public life.

“Democracys are stronger when all citizens, women and men are equally represented, equally treated, and equally empowered to shape public life. We also have to admit that legal quotas, though significant, cannot be the final destination. They are an entry point, not the final point of equality”.

Sustainable progress requires investment in the development of political leadership, learning, civic education, institutional reform and transforming political culture itself. In this direction, partnerships between international donors, local institutions, women-led organisations and civil society remain necessary. These partnerships create spaces where women's voices are amplified, where future leaders rely and where democratic standards are constantly strengthened. This report reminds us that true equality is achieved not only through formal involvement, but through significant influence and equal opportunities within political processes”, Goldberg said. /Periscope/