Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/823875
maltatoday, MONDAY, 15 MAY 2017 7 News recently pledged to introduce gender quotas in Parliament, in an attempt to even out the number of male and female MPs. Indeed, with only nine female MPs out of 71 in the last Par- liament, Malta ranked the lowest for female representation out of all EU member states. A problem often f lagged during the ensuing debate was the shortage of female candi- dates, with critics f lagging the fact that only 40 (15%) out of the 269 can- didates for the 2013 general election were women. Yet the problem is likely to persist if not exacerbated after the upcom- ing election. Indeed, only 42 of this year's candidates are women, which – out of a total of 377 candidates – puts the female percentage at a poor 11%. The party with the smallest per- centage of female candidates, apart from Alleanza Bidla and its three male candidates, is Alternattiva Demokratika who only managed to convince one woman – Danika For- mosa – to run for election, putting its female candidate percentage at 10%. The Patrijotti have fared better in this regard – three of its 15 candi- dates (20%) are women. Despite Muscat's frequent calls for gender quotas that his government is "the most feminist in Malta's his- tory", only 11 Labour candidates this year are women, who includes three – Deborah Schembri, Justyne Caru- ana and Helena Dalli – who form part of the current Cabinet. However, eight of these women will contest on two districts, which will allow Labour to field at least one fe- male candidate in every district. With 27 women (24%), the Nation- alist Party can boast to have the highest percentage of female candi- dates in this year's election, a per- centage which Simon Busuttil has said is still too low. They are helped in some part by the Partit Demokratiku who are fielding four female candidates, including its leader Marlene Farrugia – meaning that, as a stand-alone, 36% of the PD's candidates are women. Who has jumped ship this year As with other elections, the 2017 election will see both parties field candidates who had, under much media spotlight, jumped ship from the rival party. Marlene Farrugia and her partner Godfrey Farrugia, both elected to Parliament on the Labour ticket back in 2013, will now run under the PN f lag – both as PD candidates. Marlene Farrugia will run on the fifth and tenth districts, while Godfrey Farrugia will run on the sixth and seventh. Labour has managed to convince former Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pul- licino – who was targeted by the Labour Party in its 2008 electoral campaign over alleged corruption – to seek a return to Parliament on the seventh district. Former PN Lija mayor Ian Castaldi Paris will also run for Labour on the seventh and eight districts, while Jean Pierre Mi- callef – until recently a member of the PN's executive – will turn out for his former rivals on the third and tenth districts. tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Alternattiva Demokratika has only approved ten candidates, all of whom – expect for the young Marc Andrea Cassar – will contest on two districts The leader of Alleanza Bidla, Ivan Grech Mintoff has managed to field himself in 12 electoral districts and the other two of his candidates in 11 districts The new far-right Moviment Patrijotti has approved 15 candidates, all of whom will contest on two districts. The new party appears to have chosen to concentrate on some districts more than others – fielding four candidates in the fourth district and three in the seventh, but only one 'Patriot' in the sixth and tenth districts the 2017 election candidates