Symbolic or essential? The risk of women's representation in the new Parliament

In the new parliamentary legislature that begins in September, 50 women MPs who won their mandates in the May 11 elections, after their competition on closed and open lists, are expected to sit.

The Socialist Party has the highest number of representatives with 35 women elected from a total of 83 MPs, followed by the Democratic Party and the “Alliance for a Greater Albania” coalition with 13 women and the Social Democratic Party with 2 women MPs from a total of 3 mandates. Another female candidate from the “Albania Initiative” coalition is also on the list of winners, but according to a pre-election promise, she may withdraw to make way for Adriatik Lapaj from the open list. Asked by BIRN whether he would take the mandate, Lapaj did not give a definitive answer.

Numerically, women and girls will make up 35 percent of the new parliament, or 5 percent more than the quotas dictated by the Electoral Code to ease the path for women's representation in politics. But for human rights activists, statistical representation is not enough if women and girls MPs do not also have a substantial representation with their own voice in parliament.

“There remains a real risk that this will be more symbolic than substantive representation,” Ines Leskaj, head of the Albanian Women’s Empowerment Network, AWEN, told BIRN, adding that “if women are elected to fill quotas but are not given real power to influence the political agenda, then progress remains superficial.”

According to Leskaj, this risks creating an illusion of equality, while the real power structures "remain unchanged."

Irena Shtraza, project manager at UN Women Albania, also believes that while increasing representation is a necessity, this should not be seen as a symbolic representation without real power. Shtraza also appeals that women's mandates in the Assembly should not serve only for gender balance.

"We hope," she says, "that they can have as much voice as possible and bring a new spirit to parliament, one that is in line with the interests of citizens and transcends party interests."

Real representation or an extension of the party?!

Most of the women who won the mandate of MP for the next four years have emerged from the safe lists of political parties, determined by party leaders and conditioned by legal provisions that require 1 in 3 candidates to be a woman.

Out of 50 MPs in total, 11 were elected from open lists, including only Jorida Tabaku from the opposition coalition and 10 other MPs from the Socialist Party.

The election of a majority of women as leaders of the main parties is considered a worrying element by civil society representatives, who emphasize the lack of internal democracy.

“The fact that most women are elected through closed party lists is a coin that has two sides,” said Ines Leskaj, who appreciates the fact that this system has helped increase women’s representation. But on the other hand, according to her, “it can limit their political independence, due to the dependence on the party leadership that controls the ranking on the lists.”

"Under these conditions, the risk that they will feel more like extensions of the party's will than as representatives of the interests of communities is there," suggests Leskaj.

Irena Shtraza from UN Women suggests that the problem of political independence does not recognize gender, but is related to the democratization of the parties themselves.

“The space to act independently and represent the interests of the electorate knows no gender,” said Shtraza, adding that both women and men must work together to create a political system built on the basis of equal opportunities and democracy.”

"Without reforms within parties and without space for independent elections by the electorate and independent action by those elected, representation may remain symbolic, for women and men alike," she stressed.

The same position is shared by Leskaj from the "AWEN" Network, who does not see quotas as the ultimate mechanism for increasing real gender equality in politics.

"If not accompanied by internal party democratization, transparency, and equal competition, they (closed lists) can strengthen top-down control," said Leskaj, adding that real gender equality in politics requires concrete support for building women's leadership and empowerment.

Meanwhile, Shtraza raises another concern about the May 11 elections; the lack of diversity and inclusive representation even within the group of elected women.

"Certain groups of women remain systematically excluded from political processes due to lack of opportunities, especially women with disabilities, Roma and Egyptian women, young women and women in rural areas," she stressed, referring to the failure to fulfill international commitments undertaken by the Albanian state. Reporter.al