Calabria is one of the Italian regions with the strongest gender imbalance in local politics. From the elaboration of the Local Government Studies Center based on the candidatures filed in the Municipalities to vote in the Ordinary Statute Regions on the occasion of the 2026 administrative elections, it emerges that 77% of the Municipalities voting in the 2026 administrative elections present exclusively male candidates for mayor.
Very high percentages of male candidates in Catanzaro and Reggio
By narrowing the field of analysis to the provincial level, it is written in a note, territories emerge in which the critical issues are even more marked. Reggio Calabria, for example, records 86% of municipalities with only male candidates, while Catanzaro reaches as many as 88%, among the highest percentages in Italy. Even in the lists of municipal councilors, small entities continue to show strong difficulties in achieving gender balance: 51% of municipalities under 5,000 inhabitants do not meet the objectives on pink quotas set by the legislation.