Praha - The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) is the only political party in parliament with no women candidates in the upcoming Senate election. Other political parties are not doing much better either, though. Election managers say that women are not interested in running for seats in the Senate very much.
"Regions and districts have not generated any suitable woman candidates," ODS spokesperson, Milan Bouška, says. "Suitable" in this case means a woman candidate meeting the necessary criteria and interested in a nomination.
The situation with the Christian Democratic Party (KDU-ČSL) is similar. The party will run in 16 regions with just one woman candidate. Yet, women make up 52 percent of party membership.
The first round of the election takes place in two and a half months. On Tuesday, the Interior Ministry distributed the list of political parties and movements running for Senate to the authorities of the delegated municipalities.
ODS numbers: five, three, three, six
In the previous election, ODS did have female candidates.
"In 2000 for instance, there were five women and two of them won. In 2002 three women ran with no success, while in 2004 there were also three female candidates, one of whom was elected. In 2006 there were six women and two made it," Bouška says.
ODS is not planning any changes in their nomination list that would give a greater chance to women to run in the future.
"ODS has three women senators [now], just like the Social Democrats (ČSSD), despite the fact that ČSSD are trying to adjust their ballot with consideration for the women's quota. This shows that no quota is going to help," spokesperson Bouška stated.
Along side city mayors, regional commissioners and doctors, a figure that stands out from the ODS candidate list is Bernard Brewery co-owner Stanislav Bernard.
Senate not for women?
ODS has three female Senators at the moment. One of them is Daniela Filipiová.
The women's quota is unacceptable for political parties in parliament, but most of them recommend to give women a greater chance or even privilege them.
All the parties agree that the Senate elections are specific as far as women candidates are concerned.
"Compared to other elections, women are not that much interested in running for a Senate post. I cannot explain why. ČSSD's ballot welcomes women. Moreover, they won in all the regions' primary elections," ČSSD Election Manager Jaroslav Tvrdík says.
The Social Democrats have five women candidates in 27 election districts.
Green Party privileges regions
The Green Party, which will run in nineteen districts and has four women candidates, has an explanation.
"The Senate elections are focused on personalities. It is very important who shows interest in the candidacy. We are not giving up the rule according to which one third of our ballot should be occupied by women but the regional principle is slightly superior as far as the Senate is concerned," Greens´ spokesperson, Eva Rolečková, says.
The Communist Party also confirms that it is not easy to find an interesting and active woman willing to run for Senate.
In terms of the number of women candidates, the Communist Party has primacy. Six women will run for the party, with candidates in all the 27 election districts.
Eleven female Senators
At the moment, there are eleven female Senators, which is 13.5 percent of the total seats.
In the Inter-parliamentary Union chart, the Czech Republic occupies 73rd position as far as the number of women in politics is concerned.
Whereas local councils see up to 25 percent of female politicians, the Lower House has 15.5 percent women and regional councils only 15 percent.
