Increasing women’s representation and influence in local politics in Serbia - multi-party partnership with the Green Left Front in Serbia

One of the strengths of such multi-party engagement is the opportunity to learn from each other, not only among international parties but also between Danish and international parties, as well as amongst and internally in Danish parties. Green Left Front is currently in the process of transitioning from being a political movement (previously known as “Ne davimo Beograd”, which translates to “Don’t let Belgrade Drown”) to becoming a political party.

Green Left Front is an interesting partner, which is expected to serve as an inspiration for all of us, as it is a party founded on strong feminist principles and with concrete experiences having and implementing strategies for gender equality while they were still an urban-based movement. For example, its statutes include an autonomous women’s group with its own representatives across party bodies, and the party programme does not only have a special section dedicated to women’s rights but is inherently rooted in feminist thought. Achieving gender parity and equal representation of women in the party governing structures and on electoral lists remains a central principle for the Green Left Front, which has been achieved as a movement in Belgrade but represents a huge challenge for the party while anchoring and organising the party in more traditional rural areas.

However, despite their strong principles and efforts, the Green Left Front faces challenges in motivating and empowering female members to take up positions and candidacies. This challenge is especially evident as Green Left Front expands from urban Belgrade into rural areas, revealing that, especially in rural party branches, women are subjected to patriarchal norms, everyday sexism, and misogyny to a much greater extent than in urban Belgrade, meaning it is a challenge to motivate women to engage in local politics and particularly to run as candidates. Therefore, while the parties involved in the multi-party partnership have much to learn from Green Left Front’s strong feminist stance, dedication to women’s rights, and concrete experiences from being an urban-based movement with a high level of gender equality, it is expected that exchanges and mutual learnings will also help Green Left Front address the hefty gender challenges in rural communities as they expand beyond Belgrade.

Green Left Front is currently in the process of transitioning from being a political movement (previously known as “Ne davimo Beograd”, which translates to “Don’t let Belgrade Drown”) to becoming a political party. This transition requires them to collect more than 11,000 notarized signatures from Serbian citizens, as per Serbian law. Green Left Front is a pro-EU party with a green-left ideological base, and it is currently in the process of extending its reach from being a city-based party to reaching into rural municipalities. Serbia is not an easy country for a small opposition party, as it has been labelled a “hybrid regime” by the Freedom House, and there are severe issues surrounding media freedom. Therefore, the options for acting as a democratic opposition to the two major right-wing parties with authoritarian tendencies are rather limited.

The primary goal of this multi-party partnership is to increase the representation and influence of women in local politics. This goal will be achieved through a range of activities. For Green Left Front, this includes a gender audit, the establishment of a women’s forum, and the exchange of experiences among the six Danish parties and the international parties engaged in the partnership—for example, during two seminars in Copenhagen with participation from all partners.

In October 2023, SF visited Green Left Front in Serbia during the establishment of their women’s group, which is a part of the partnership that will continue towards facilitating a public women’s conference. This conference will bring together women from across Serbia, as well as partners from other countries engaged in multi-party partnerships, with the aim of discussing key principles and best practices for the inclusion of women in politics.