Regional Conference on Gender Equality in Electoral Processes

On November 25-26, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia in close cooperation with Venice Commission of the Council of Europe hosted the regional conference on “Gender Equality in Electoral Processes”. Tamar Zhvania, the CEC Chairperson, together with Khatuna Totladze, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Cristian Urse, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, Herdis Thorgeirsdottir, Vice-President of the Venice Commission and Shombi Sharp, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Georgia made opening remarks at the conference.

During the two-day conference, participants discussed the best practices of election systems and electoral processes in gender equality perspective.

The conference participants assessed the impact of measures to improve women’s political participation. Zurab Khrikadze, Head of the CEC Gender Equality Commission delivered the presentation on the impact of electoral model and political system on women’s participation in Georgia. Speakers had an opportunity to discuss steps forward in the field of gender equality. The CEC Chairperson talked about the existing challenges and different approaches to deal with them in terms of implementing global strategy of gender equality.

Representatives of election administrations from Moldova and Azerbaijan, state agencies and international organizations, including OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), National Democratic Institute (NDI), International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, International Republican Institute (IRI), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Venice Commission and Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe attended the conference.

Joint conference of the CEC and the Venice Commission on gender issues was conducted by the financial support of the European Union.