Donara Hakhinyan: “My people support me, people are standing next to me”

On November 5, community head elections will be held in 12 communities in the Lori region. The competition for the mayor’s position is mostly between men.

WomenNet.am’s interlocutor Donara Hakhinyan is the only female candidate to run for mayor in Lori province. She has been nominated in Odzun community and competing with two men – Odzun’s current community leader, RPA member Arsen Titanian and director of the “Gurra” Production Cooperative, Barsegh Ayvazyan, son of Odzun’s former mayor. Let us remind you that in the Aegehat, Ardvi, Arevatsag, Thater, Karmir Aghek, Hagvi, Mghart and Odzun communities are included in Odzun. The head of none of these communities was woman.

Donara Hakhinyan is 37 years old, married and has three children, currently not working. Her son serves in the Armenian army, daughter is studying in the 11th grade,  younger son is four years old, and she is an economist by profession.

– What is the reason you decided to run as a candidate for mayor?

The first reason is the condition of the people. I am also a resident of this village, and I see these conditions. Seeing that the people are living in very bad conditions, I decided to run. I used to want to nominate my candidacy during the previous elections, but for some reason I did not do that. People were coming, saying they would be nominated and decided to take the people’s request into consideration.

– How important is the involvement of women in local self-government bodies?

I stress the importance of women’s participation in local self-government bodies and not only. The bigger the number of women in the leadership circles, the better our country’s situation is, there are few women in our leadership circles. The number of women and men should be equal, I am for 50/50 ratio in all areas. Today, people enter women’s offices  more freely than those of men.

Full text in Armenian