Asian Women Mayors News

Women Mayors from Asia

> Sri Lanka's ruling party nominates a woman to become capital mayor

> Turkish mayor tells UN: Women are a force for peace

> Democratically elected mayors removed by Turkish authorities

If elected on 6 May 2025, Vraie Cally Balthazar would be the first leftist mayor of Sri Lanka’s capital city, Colombo, since 1944.

SRI LANKA / COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s ruling leftist party nominates a woman for mayor of Colombo

March 2025: Since the elections of a centre-left president and government in Sri Lanka in September and November 2024, all the country’s major political parties have pledged to strengthen the role of women in government. Of course, promises are easy, but actions must follow. Whether this will be the case will become clear on 6 May 2025, when local elections are held in Sri Lanka. All eyes are on Colombo, the country’s capital city, where Vraie Cally Balthazar, an executive committee member of the ruling NPP party (National People’s Power), is running for mayor.

The NPP also announced that at least 25 per cent of party candidates in the May local elections will be women. However, while the number of women in local parliaments has increased from 2 to 23 per cent since the introduction of quotas in 2017, the increased number did not translate into increased political power.

If elected, Vraie Cally Balthazar would be the first centre-left mayor of Colombo since 1944. All, but two previous mayors were members of the centre-right United National Party (UNP).

In Sri Lanka, mayors are elected by the party that has gained the most seats in local councils. Responsibilities include social services, health, environment, urban planning and sanitation. Policing is the responsibility of the central government.

MIDDLE EAST / TURKEY

Kurdish mayor tells UN that women are a force for peace and stability in the Middle East

March 2025: The co-mayor from Diyarbakır (Turkey), attended the 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (10-21 March 2025) to plead with member states to promote women’s political participation and leadership. Serra Bucak, one of the most outspoken women mayors in Turkey, delivered a passionate plea for gender-focused governance and international solidarity against political repression.

Serra Bucak, co-mayor of the Metropolitan Municipality of Diyarbakır (Amed), the de facto regional capital of the Kurdish region of Turkey, addressed the high-level women’s leadership summit, informing her audience on the fight of Kurdish women for equal representation and the ground-breaking model of male-female co-mayorship in Kurdish areas of Turkey.

Mayor Bucak condemned Turkey’s practice of removing elected mayors and replacing them with government-appointed trustees, a policy widely seen as targeting municipalities governed by the pro-Kurdish Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party. “Appointing trustees is not just an attack on the political will of the people but also a direct assault on women’s gains in local governance,” she said. “Women’s struggles cannot be confined to national borders. We must expand international solidarity to safeguard their role in decision-making.”

“As co-mayor, I am not only a local administrator but also an activist,” she said. “Kurdish women have fought not just for their liberation, but for the freedom of all peoples. Making this struggle visible on a global scale is our responsibility.”

Following the settlement between the Kurdish authorities and the new government in neighbouring Syria, Serra Bucak stressed the need for women’s active involvement in peace processes, referring to UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls for increased female participation in conflict resolution and security policy. “Women must be at the heart of peace negotiations,” she said. “The Kurdish women’s movement is one of the most powerful forces for regional stability, advocating not only for Kurdish rights but for peace across the Middle East.”

Source: Medya News

On other pages: Turkish women mayors

TURKEY

Turkish women mayors promise to take their struggle for gender equality to the streets

March 2025: In November of last year, Turkish female mayors belonging to the centre-left, pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) started a campaign to highlight the fact that many women in the country still suffered violence. Most cases of abuse against women are never reported, and those which are are rarely properly investigated. Starting on 8 March, International Women’s Day, the mayors will take their campaign to the streets. The organisers of the campaign ‘Our promise is not finished; together we will stop the violence’ (Gotina me neqediya: Em ê bi hev re tundiyê rawestînin).

In the coming months, the women mayors aim to raise awareness about gender inequality and to provide practical support to women by opening solidarity centres, shelters and anti-violence hotlines. The women have organised neighbourhood meetings and have also planned a poster campaign as well as social media activities.

In a press conference, the campaign organisers also pointed out the difficulties many women mayors and co-mayors faced when campaigning for women’s rights and accused the government of wanting to silence them. Serra Bucak, co-mayor of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality mentioned Neslihan Şedal, the female co-mayor of Van and Devrim Demir, co-mayor of Mardin, who have been replaced by government appointees.

Serra Bucak said that by removing mayors, it has been made almost impossible for municipalities to develop projects that strengthen gender equality and women’s rights. “Women’s solidarity centres have been rendered inactive or closed down, gender equality units in municipalities have been closed down, and efforts to combat violence have been eliminated.”

Despite these difficult circumstances, Bucak highlighted that the network of solidarity that was created by the campaign will “make women’s voices louder in local government, increase collective resistance and create a strong foundation for the construction of a non-violent life.”

“We will build a democratic, ecological and women’s libertarian life together, taking our strength from women’s struggle for freedom and equality, solidarity and determination,” Mayor Bucak promised her audience.

Sources: Medya News; ANF Media

On other pages: Turkish women mayors

TURKEY

Europe condemns the removal of democratically elected opposition mayors by Turkish authorities

February 2025: The removal of two Turkish opposition mayors by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sparked mass protests and international condemnation. The move has been described as a political coup against local democracy.

The ousting of the co-mayors of the City of Van in eastern Turkey Abdullah Zeydan and Neslihan Şedal follows a widely reported legal battle between Mayor Zeydan and the Turkish authorities. After winning the 31 March 2024 elections by a significant margin, his mandate was challenged by a local electoral board. However, Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) reinstated him, making the dismissals of him and his co-mayor particularly contentious. Both mayors belong to the Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), which forms part of the opposition in Turkey’s parliament.

The dismissal triggered widespread protests in Van, with demonstrators accusing the government of undermining democratic governance in Kurdish-majority cities. According to eyewitnesses, police forces responded with violent interventions and mass arrests.

Adalet Kaya, DEM Party parliamentarian and President of the Rosa Women’s Organisation, condemned the repression, particularly against women. “It is no coincidence that this violence is directed most severely against Kurdish women and elected people. The Turkish government is attacking the rising freedom struggle led by women and the resistance line of the people. Because the government knows that the struggle growing under the leadership of Kurdish women is the hope of freedom not only for Kurdish people but of all the oppressed,” the parliamentarian wrote in a social media posting.

The Council of Europe has condemned Turkey's dismissal of elected mayors and warned of a dangerous democratic erosion. In a statement, the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities said that the recent dismissal of Abdullah Zeydan and Neslihan Şedal was a matter of grave concern. “It cannot be ignored. This newest move against the two mayors is the last link in a chain of deliberate and calculated delegitimisation. Sadly, it is also part of a wider and undemocratic pattern.”

“The specific practice of replacing democratically elected opposition party mayors with trustees is undermining the very nature of democracy,” the statement continues.

Since the March 2024 local elections, Turkish authorities have deposed nine mayors over terrorism-related allegations, including seven from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) and two from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Another CHP mayor was arrested on charges of manipulating public tenders. All 10 mayors have been removed from their positions and replaced by government-appointed trustees. The ten mayors now face judicial proceedings, defamation lawsuits and long prison sentences.

Sources: Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities; Medya News;

On other pages: Turkish women mayors

PHILIPPINES

Filipino Mayor included in Forbes list of leading environmentalists

September 2024: Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte was the lone Filipino included in the Forbes list of 50 people who are leading global efforts to combat the climate crisis. The inaugural Forbes Sustainability Leaders recognises entrepreneurs, scientists, funders, policymakers and activists who are leading the charge to combat the climate crisis with real, tangible impact. The list included leaders coming from different industries and disciplines who demonstrate “exceptional ambition, innovation and recent, tangible impact that is both scalable and sustainable.” In recognising Belmonte, Forbes noted the different initiatives she pursued after taking office as Quezon City mayor in 2019.

Among them was the declaration of a climate emergency, the first in the Philippines. “That move allowed Belmonte to allocate 13 per cent of the city’s budget (which has since increased) to climate initiatives to reach its stated goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050,” Forbes said.

“Her initiatives run the gamut: doubling the city’s bike path network to 217 miles, electrifying its free bus service, adding solar panels to public buildings, banning plastic bags and single-use utensils, introducing a ‘trash-to-cashback’ program and creating refilling stations for liquid detergent and other common household products,” it added.

Mayor Belmonte, who was hailed as a United Nations Champion of the Earth for Policy Leadership last year, has identified sustainability, environment protection and climate resilience as among her priority programs. Earlier this year, she joined the sixth UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, where she served as summit rapporteur of cities and regions and represented hundreds of local leaders to discuss their concerns and propositions on issues related to the environment.

Last year, she took part in various global summits on the environment, sustainability and climate action, including the UN Climate Ambition Summit convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York and the International Forum to End Plastic Pollution in Cities organised by the UN Environment Program in Paris.

Belmonte is also part of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a global network of mayors taking action against the climate crisis. Quezon City recently hosted the C40 Cities Southeast Asia Regional Academy Global Workshop. Among those who attended was Freetown, Sierra Leone Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, among the Sustainability Leaders identified by Forbes. The business magazine also featured the two mayors in a separate report, where they spoke about their initiatives and discussed the challenges they face as leaders in the developing world.

Among those recognised by Forbes were Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley; Mayors Anne Hidalgo of Paris, France and Michelle Wu of Boston, United States; US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm; US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan; UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell and various climate scientists, activists, academics and leaders from the government, private sector and civil society organisations.

“This first class of Sustainability Leaders highlights individuals driving real and lasting impact. We honour them for their vision and stewardship of our planet and to showcase the creative, inspiring solutions they lead from the lab to the boardroom,” said Forbes.

With a population of close to three million, Quezon, part of the Metro Manila conurbation, is the largest Filipino city.

Sources: Forbes, OneNews (Philippines)

PHILIPPINES

Philippine mayor arrested in Indonesia rumoured to be Chinese ‘asset’

September 2024: A disgraced mayor wanted in the Philippines for alleged links to Chinese criminal networks has been arrested in Indonesia after several weeks on the run, According to the Philippine Bureau of Immigration, Alice Leal Guo, the Mayor of Bamban, a town 100 kilometres north of Manila, after being identified as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, she fled the country following the rumours as to her true identity.

The country’s Senate investigated allegations against Guo involving claims of illegal gambling activities, money laundering, human trafficking and fraud. The mayor was asked to explain how she amassed millions in assets as a first-time politician within two years of being elected to public office. Rather than addressing the allegation, Guo fled the country, allegedly via a covert network of vans and small boats.

Filipino authorities believe she crossed the sea to Malaysia, then Singapore and Indonesia, where local police caught up with her on Wednesday (4 September 2024)

The Philippines President, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, thanked the Indonesian authorities for her arrest and said “Let this serve as a warning to those who attempt to evade justice. Such is an exercise in futility. The arm of the law is long, and it will reach you.” The mayor’s legal team issued a statement saying, the arrest was a welcome development as she would now have the opportunity to answer the allegations and issues thrown against her.

The US broadcaster CNN reported that Guo’s image as an enthusiastic, young public servant was called into question earlier this year when the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) received separate tip-offs from two workers from Malaysia and Vietnam. They had asked for help to be sent back to their home countries after claiming to have been held against their will in a building in Bamban.

The building was suspected to be a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO), which caters to punters based in China, where gambling is illegal. Until July, POGOs were popular places of employment for tens of thousands of foreign workers. However, when authorities raided the Bamban complex in March, they found more than 800 Filipinos, Chinese, Vietnamese and other nationals, who claimed to have been working there against their will.

The government-run Philippine News Agency reported police also found ‘love scam’ scripts, firearms and mobile phones allegedly used for scam transactions. Subsequent probes into the complex in Bamban also uncovered alleged links between the mayor and the shady underworld of gambling centres, with some suspected of being vehicles for laundering money.

The suspicion that she was working as an ‘asset’ for Beijing grew among lawmakers, as they cited her evasive answers to questions about her Chinese parentage. Her alleged business ventures with foreigners with criminal records also appeared to raise doubts.

Speculation intensified when the senate probe revealed that her real name was ‘Guo Hua Ping’ based on immigration records from 2005. Later, the National Bureau of Investigation found that her fingerprints matched a Chinese national of the same name.

Sources: CNN, Philippine News Agency, Philippine Bureau of Immigration

Please email us with any questions or suggestions you may have