WUNRN
Sonja Lokar, Coordinator of the
CEE Network for Gender Issues for the SEE
CEE NETWORK FOR GENDER ISSUES
Levstikova
15, 1000
Phone: +386
1 2444 119, Fax: +386 1 2444 123, Mo:+386 40 885860
SHORT ANALYSIS OF THE SLOVENE GENERAL ELECTIONS FROM THE GENDER POINT
OF VIEW
From the change of the socialist one party to the democratic
multiparty parliamentary system in 1990,
In 1990, in the parliament women’s representation dropped from 26 % and has been oscillating between 7.8% and 13.3 % for the last 18 years. If there are no early general elections the situation will stay the same for the next four years.
In the period from 1990 to 2005,
It seemed that Slovenian women’s movement found the way how to put an end to this obvious discrimination of women only in 2001, when a Coalition for Parity was established. This cross-cutting coalition was strong enough and clever enough to use the last part of the Slovene accession period (2001-2004) as a window of opportunity for successful advocacy and lobbying for the positive measures in the Constitution as well as in the electoral legislation.
In 2004, first the Law on Election for European
Parliamentarians was amended. 40 % quota
with the placing rules – at least one from the opposite sex has to be placed
between the first three names on the lists
- was enacted in the parliament with central left majority. This led to
the first breakthrough.
In 2004 successful change of the Constitution also obliged
the parliament to enact legal positive measures for
Neutral quota was enacted in 2005 but with the very long period of gradual implementation. 40 % quota and the zipper in the first half of the lists should be applied only in 2014.
In 2006
In 2006, the parliament with the right wing majority enacted
also the quota for general election. This time
How come?
Slovene voting system is a weird mixture of proportional and majoritarian system. There are 8 electoral districts in the country, but the electoral unites are uninominal. The only placing rule which would have enabled women candidates to get equal chances for election would be to practice the parity for all electoral unites where respective party got elected its candidate, from 1992, in several previous elections. The analysis of the placement of women candidates with regard to the eligibility of their units, shows, that only one party – Social Democrats, gave to their women candidates 3 out of 9 such winnable unites, all the others women candidates of this party had to run in the unites where SD never got its candidate elected from 1992.
On the other hand, central right Slovene Democratic Party gave such safe unites to only 2 of their women candidates, while all the others were placed in the electoral unites with smaller or no chance to win.
Throughout 2008 civil society women’s movement in
It succeeded, for example, to persuade Governmental Office for Equal Opportunities to commission the research about the placing of the female candidates in the winnable unites. But when the outcome of this research was very negative for the Slovene Democratic Party, the leading party of the outgoing right wing coalition, the director of this Office, coming from this party, did not allow the results of this research to be published in time to be used in the parallel women’s electoral campaign. In 2008 Slovene elections were not decided by the women voters outraged by undemocratic attitude of the Slovene Democratic Party towards their women candidates. Women’s Lobby of Slovenia did not succeed to make gender equality a serious issue of this general election.
The question is now how to make
The new coalition will most probably consist of the parties which consider themselves to be democratic and left or central left. The candidate for the Prime Minister, the president of the Social Democrats, Borut Pahor, only a few days ago, kindly gave his signature of support to the parity campaign of the European Women’s Lobby.
Electoral program of the winning
party is full of concrete promises with regard
It depends on the ability and political influence of the Slovene women civil society movement to persuade the democratic left and central forces to demonstrate their devotion to genuine democracy also when it comes to the real political power of the women on the national level.
Women’s Lobby in
Ø to form a new government with 50% of women ministers
Ø to amend the electoral legislation by immediately raising of the legal quota for general election to 50 % and
Ø to introduce the placing rule of 50-50 (parity) for winnable electoral unites. .
Sonja Lokar, Coordinator of the
CEE Network for Gender Issues for the SEE
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