Women Truly Can � 33 Women Elected for the New Parliament

07 July 2006

The new Sobranie (Macedonian parliament), according to the unofficial results of the vote of two days ago, will have 33 women MPs, reports Savka Todorovska, President of the Union of Women Associations of Macedonia - SOZM.

Divided by party and coalition lists, most women � 13 - were elected from the lists of �For Better Macedonia� Coalition, followed by �For Macedonia Together� with nine women MPs, the DUI-PDP-Bosniak League coalition with four women, DPA with three, VMRO-NP with two women in the Sobranie, while DOM and NSDP will have one woman representative each.

Todorovska expressed her gratitude for the cooperation of SOZM�s partner organizations, the Governmental Office for Promotion of Gender Equality and the Department of Rule of Law at the OSCE Office in Skopje, as well as the political parties, governmental institutions and other stakeholders, for their contributions to the success of the �Women Can Do It� campaign, as well as in all stages and segments of the electoral process.

�Such results are a consequence of a systemic, dedicated and well planned effort by all stakeholders. As a result of the several years of strong efforts, we had more women involved in all stages and segments of elections � as candidates, members of electoral bodies and monitoring missions�, said Todorovska.

Victor Ullom, the Head of the Department of Rule of Law with OSCE Skopje Office, congratulated the elections to the new women MPs and emphasized that Macedonia has made an obvious progress in this critical area of the comprehensive gender mainstreaming process.

�You will certainly agree that, the more balanced the participation of men and women in political and public decision-making processes, the stronger and more representative Macedonian democracy will be�, said Ullom.

Elena Grozdanovska also congratulated the new women representatives and emphasized the importance of close cooperation of governmental and civil sector in the implementation of such important projects.

Although SOZM expected at least 40 women to enter the new Sobranie, Todorovska said that they are satisfied with the results and that the number of elected women may actually rise, after the moves down the lists during the constitution of the new Government cabinet.