There are 3,575 candidates registered across 105 communes in Luxembourg for the forthcoming elections, minister Lydia Mutsch said in a press release published on Tuesday.

Of that number 1,274 were women, equivalent to 35.6%, up from 32% in 2001, when the last communal elections were held.

Prime minister Xavier Bettel welcomed the gender diversity in the candidate lists. The government also pursues a policy to increase the proportion of women sitting on the boards of public institutions, economic interest groups and private companies in which the State is a shareholder. Thanks to the policy, the proportion held by women rose from 1 in 5 to 1 in 4 members. 

Meanwhile, since December 2013, the government allocated 34% of such positions to women.