On Tuesday, Finance reported that women are highly underrepresented in the upcoming local elections. The report was based on an analysis prepared by the Coalition for the Advancement of Equal Opportunity of Women and Men in Public Life.

According to Finance, "although women make up 51.3 percent of the total population of Slovenia, their representation in parliament and in city councils is lower than 15 percent." Female mayors are even rarer, just 3.4 percent of the total in the 1994 local elections, rising to just 4.2 percent in 1998.

The article points out that Slovenia is behind not only European Union countries, where women hold a rough average of 30 percent of political positions, but also behind several other Central and Eastern European countries.

While some parties, for example the LDS and ZLSD, have amended their statutes to facilitate women’s participation, "real and visible changes" have yet to be made, according to Violeta Neubauer, who lead the analysis.

Neubauer added that the parties themselves hinder more active participation by women. It is difficult for mothers in particular to attend meetings held in the afternoon. Women are also not included in many informal avenues of the political process, "such as golf, various clubs, saunas," according to Neubauer.

Immediately after the elections, the Coalition will extend the analysis to cover the number of women who are actually elected, however the group does not expect much change.

Representatives of civil society voiced concerns that alterations to the judiciary will do little to solve the most pressing problems at a discussion on proposed amendments to the Constitution on Monday. Zdravko Kreslin, a representative of the Association for Oversight on the Work of Institutions, was one of many who expressed the belief that the proposed amendments are only cosmetic.

According to many participants, positive changes in the judicial system will only come from halting the practice of appointing judges for life and removing their immunity in criminal proceedings. Many participants also believe the lack of oversight is another major problem and recommended that parliament be given such authority.

Boris Kurent was among those who pointed out the often long delays in bringing a case before the courts, a criticism also made by the European Commission and other international observers. Kurent said that this problem could be avoided if judges who do not perform satisfactorily were reprimanded.

Supporting the proposed amendments were Mitja Deisinger, head of the High Court, Aleš Zaler, head of the Ljubljana regional court and the Judicial Society and Hinko Jenull, State Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Deisinger said that he understands the criticism of the judiciary, but that such criticism exists all around the world. One of the benefits he sees in the proposed amendments is the introduction of probationary five-year mandates for judges.

He added that the situation whereby judges are recommended for permanent mandates by the Judiciary Council to parliament is also used in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Latvia and Azerbaijan.

Aleš Zaler pointed out that this system is recommended by the Council of Europe. Another proposed amendment would see the function of naming judges transferred from parliament to the president of the republic, which Zaler believes would be better than the current system.

Public support for EU and Nato membership rising

Results of the latest Politbarometer released on Monday showed increased public support for Slovene membership in both the European Union and Nato. The Politbarometer is a regular monthly public opinion survey conducted by the University of Ljubljana’s social studies faculty (FDV).

At a referendum, 49 percent of those asked would vote in favor of joining Nato, up nearly ten percent over last month. Roughly 33 percent would vote against, down from 39.4. Nearly 83 percent of those surveyed would participate in such a referendum, while just 9.2 would not. Among those who would vote in a referendum, 56.2 percent would vote in favor while 31 percent would vote against.

Asked whether Nato membership will be good for Slovenia, 47.4 percent said yes, while 31.6 said no and 21 percent remain undecided.

More than 62 percent would vote in favor of joining the EU in a referendum up from 55.4 percent last month. The number of those who would vote against fell from 25.9 to 22.7 percent. Among those who would actually participate in such a referendum, 68.8 percent would vote in favor while just 19.8 would vote against.

More than 55 percent responded that they believe the country will benefit from joining the EU, up three percent from last month. The number of those who believe Slovenia will not benefit fell slightly, from 26.2 percent to 25.5.

Niko Toš, a representative of the FDV, told the public that the results show the influence of the pre-election political climate. He added that the expectation that Slovenia will be invited to join Nato at its upcoming summit in Prague helped raise support this month, but should the invitation not come, that support will fall drastically.

Law on European Parliamentary elections passed

Last Friday, the National Council passed the Law on Elections to the European parliament (EP). The law enables Slovene citizens to participate in the 2004 EP elections, and thereby begin the country’s integration into the European Union and its structures as a full-fledged member.

The law provides voting rights for all citizens of Slovenia who are eligible to vote in elections to the National Assembly. Similarly, anyone eligible to stand for election to the National Assembly is eligible to stand for election to the European Parliament.

Citizens of other EU countries who have permanent residence in Slovenia are given the same voting rights as Slovene citizens.

The draft law also states that candidates may be proposed by voters, or by parties. Parties can register a candidate with the signatures of four members of the National Assembly or 1000 voters. If a candidate is proposed by two or more parties, then six MP signatures or 1500 voters’ signatures are required. Candidates may run as independents with at least 3000 voters’ signatures.

The Nice treaty allots seven seats in the EP to Slovenia, which is less than one percent of the total. The last EP elections were held in 1999.

And in other news…

• On Wednesday, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees hailed amendments to the Law on Citizenship passed by the National Assembly last week. OHCHR issued a press release which said that the amendments bring "modern and positive changes which will ease the way towards naturalization of persons with refugee status, persons without citizenship and other potentially vulnerable groups."

• Stripburger presented a new edition called Madburger: Comics Questioning Sanity this week. All of the comics in the 216-page book deal with the taboo of insanity. More than 50 cartoonists from Europe, the US and Canada participated.