In order to guarantee a place for their candidates, political parties still very frequently place a man at the head of the lists presented in the elections. If the principle of zipper (alternation woman man in the lists) is now generalized, nothing obliges the parties to place female profiles at the top of the lists. Given the greater notoriety of politicians at the municipal level, the parties may be tempted to favor them in the order of the lists in order to collect the most preference votes, which propels them more systematically to the head of the municipalities.
But the differences are also marked between the political formations. “There are parties which internally favor balance and which favor in particular choices in terms of the composition of colleges which are balanced. The composition of majorities can more or less favor the advent of a more diversified political staff.”
On the other hand, the game is not equal according to the parties. If the MR, for example, has 25 women mayors in Wallonia, the Socialist Party has only 10, a low number which can also be attributed to the socio-economic status of these municipalities where a female profile may have more difficulty in emerging. Among ecologists, champions in this field, 70% of elected officials are women. On the other hand, most political formations have established parity in their statutes.