QCOSTARICA — Costa Rica has made progress in electoral regulations to increase the participation of women in spaces such as the Government or the Legislative Assembly.
On the municipal level, however, the increase in participation of female mayors is pending.
With the start of the Municipal Elections in 2002, there were five women elected to head a municipal government, rising to eight in 2006, to ten in 2010, twelve in 2016, and a drop to eight in 2020.
Preliminary data from the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE), with 96.5% of the polling stations scrutinized, show that in 26% of the municipalities, a woman was elected mayor, which exceeds the record of 2020 when the percentage was 9.8%.
In real numbers that is 22 women will, on May 1, will be heading a local government for the 2024-2028 period.
Of the 22 women, 14 were elected in municipalities where a man had always won the election. The cantons are Hojancha, Heredia, Carrillo, Belén,Tilarán, Sarapiquí, Zarcero, Guácimo, San Mateo, Limón, Aserrí, Buenos Aires, Alajuelita and Alvarado
The other eight women were re-elected in their respective cantons.
There are two ways to analyze the results. On the one hand, so many female mayors have never won before, but on the other hand, the figure does not reach parity and barely touches a quarter of the total, that is 22 women heading governments in 84 cantons.
The provinces of San José and Alajuela top the list with 5 municipalities each.
The newly elected mayors will take office on May 1 for a period of four years and may be re-elected continuously only once. They may not hold any popularly elected position in the municipal regime until two terms have elapsed since the end of their second consecutive term.
A challenging task
The Organization of American States (OAS) observation missions have repeatedly identified the equal distribution between men and women of the positions of the same rank as a difficulty in various electoral processes. It was anticipated that the Constitutional Court’s vote in support of horizontal parity would address this issue. This would mean that each party would be required to ensure an equal representation of men and women in positions of the same level that they compete for.
It is about “paridad de salida”, where there was equality of nomination, but it was left in the hands of the voters whether to appoint men or women.
“This electoral process has been a historic event. In Costa Rica we have the largest number of women in decision-making positions thanks to affirmative actions that allow greater participation,” declared Cindy Quesada, Ministra de la Condición de la Mujer (Minister of the Status of Women).
She highlighted how now these regulations will be another variable for the parties.
“There were women who were left out of this process, so we hope that political parties will commit and now take into account that parity is something that is here to stay.
“That is why they must create the conditions within the parties so that they not only invest in training and strengthening women’s leadership. But also to ensure that they have participation on equal terms with men and free of violence,” added Quesada.
For her part, the president of Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres (Inamu) – National Women’s Institute, Adilia Caravaca, congratulated the women who were elected and assured that “the women of the communities expect to be listened to and see their needs addressed, and their knowledge recognized and respected.”
