More women were elected in the parish council elections in the seven archdioceses and dioceses in Bavaria. According to the National Committee of Catholics, the proportion rose from 62 to 67 percent. However, by Friday only 92 percent of the votes cast in last Sunday’s election had been counted. A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising said it was not yet possible to predict when the final result would be available. The election may have to be repeated in individual communities.
According to the count, 596,502 faithful exercised their right to vote in the parishes, which corresponds to a turnout of 12.75 percent. The state committee announced that this meant a decrease of 4.78 percentage points at the Bavarian level compared to 2018.
A good 24,400 members were elected to the new parish councils for the next four years – around 16,450 women and 7,960 men. Women made up the majority there across Bavaria. The question is, however, why fewer and fewer men could imagine working on the parish council. “An analysis of the causes would be indicated here.”
Despite the online elections taking place for the first time in the two dioceses of Eichstätt, Munich and Freising, the decline in voter turnout was “obviously unavoidable given the difficult situation of the Catholic Church,” summed up the state committee. Voter turnout is generally higher in rural communities than in urban areas. In addition, numerous restructuring measures in the dioceses could affect the motivation of volunteers “if they are not sufficiently involved in these processes,” it said. as a result, “breaks can often be observed, which are noticeable both in the search for candidates and in the attempt to encourage believers to vote”.