A meeting entitled “More women in (self-) governance and barriers female candidates face – through the prism of upcoming local elections”, was organized by the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Council of Europe (CoE).

The meeting was opened by Mr Giorgi Sharabidze, the acting Chairperson of the CEC of Georgia and Mr Franck Deaschler, Deputy Head at the Elections and Civil Society Division, Council of Europe.

Giorgi Santuriani, Head of the CEC Legal Department, introduced a presentation on "Legal novelties and gender quotas" to the participants.

Kristina Tolordava, Secretary at the CEC Permanent Gender Equality Council, the CEC of Georgia spoke about CEC gender equality policies, statistics, training programs of the Training Centre and other activities.

The meeting was held remotely and was attended by the heads of the CEC and the Training Center, representatives of the Council of Europe, the Parliament of Georgia, political parties and local organizations.