RESEARCH BRIEF Marsela Dauti and Geldona Metaj The appropriation of the 50/50 gender quota in local councils: Political parties’ back-room strategies Following the 2023 local elections, the Albanian media reported that many women candidates resigned one after another—quietly. 1 Many withdrew without taking office. Women resigned and were replaced by men. These types of replacements have been a persistent problem in Albanian politics. 2 However, the changes to the Electoral Code were supposed to have put an end to the political parties’ tactics. But this does not seem to be the case. The problem persists; however, its prevalence and the entire process—from the inclusion of women in political party lists to their replacement with men—are not clear. The study focuses exactly on this process, paying particular attention to resignations given before candidates took office. 1 Methodology The study relies on combined data obtained from official and unofficial sources. This approach was necessary due to the secrecy in which the process takes place. A request for information was sent to the Central Election Commission(CEC) and was succeeded by numerous steps: collecting information from the Central Election Commission official website, searching the municipalities’ and municipal councils’ official websites, sending official requests for information to 10 municipal councils 3 and 11 political parties 4 via the postal service and e-mail, establishing a local team and conducting interviews with candidates who ran for seats on municipal councils. The data collected from various sources not only complemented each other, but were also used to contrast them, for example, to compare the reasons for resignations reported in the municipal councils against those reported during the interviews. 1 See Barjamemaj, A.(2024, November 8). Në hijen e kuotave gjinore: Si gratë e zgjedhura zëvendësohen nga burra në këshillat bashkiake[Under the gender quotas disguise: How elected women are replaced by men in municipal councils]. Reporter.al. https://www.reporter.al/2024/11/08/ne-hijen-e-kuotave-gjinore-si-grate-e-zgjedhura­zevendesohen-nga-burra-ne-keshillat-bashkiake/. Konomi, E.(2023, October 9).). Kush po i frikëson gratë[Who is scaring women away]? Dosja.al. https://dosja.al/art-arget­im/kush-po-i-frikeson-grate-i330775 2 See Krasniqi, A.(2017). Zgjedhjet 2015: Risitë dhe problematikat e përfaqësimit gjinor [Elections 2015: Advances and challenges in gender representation]. Institute of Political Studies. 3 Belsh, Has, Kruja, Kukës, Kurbin, Lezha, Mirdita, Puka, Saranda and Selenica. 4 Socialist Party of Albania, Progressive Alliance Party LZHK, Albanian Future, Hashtag Initiative, Democratic Conviction, Albanian Republican Party, Green Party, Social Democratic Party, Democratic Alliance Party of Albania, National Albanian Alliance Party, and Agrarian Environmentalist Party of Albania. The appropriation of the 50/50 gender quota in local councils 1