Where there is power, there are no women, according to statistics broken down by gender regarding office-holders throughout Croatia after the local election held in May.
Of 20 counties in Croatia, only one -- Sisak-Moslavina County -- elected a female county prefect.
On 19 May, the Croatians elected mayors and municipal heads for a total of 555 cities and municipalities, and only 39 newly-elected mayors are women, which means a mere 7%.
It was a small increase form the previous local elections when women accounted for 4.9% of elected mayors and municipal heads, Gender Equality Ombudswoman Visnja Ljubicic told the media.
For instance, four counties -- Bjelovar-Bilogora, Lika-Senj, Virovitica-Podravina and Dubrovnik-Neretva -- are absolute "male-operated" as none of a total of 73 towns and municipalities in those areas has women at their helm.
Statistics seem even more devastating in the representation of women in local legislatures.
Of a total of 7,457 seats in local assemblies and councils, 6,122 were won by men (82.1%), while there are only 1,335 women-councillors, 17.9%.
