33 the law, notably regarding age and capacity. Every Burundian also has the right to accede to the public functions of his country ». The municipal, presidential, legislative and collinear elections allow each Burundian citizen to exercise his political rights without discrimination, in particular: - The Public’s all-encompassing right; - The right to vote and to be elected; - Access to public office under conditions of equality. Article 8 of the 18 March 2005 Constitution guarantees the right to vote and the right to be elected for every Burundian citizen. « The vote is universal, equal, secret, free and transparent. It can be direct or indirect under the conditions established by the Electoral Code, and is open to all Burundians over 18 years of age in possession of their civil and political rights ». Moreover the traditionally discriminated categories, namely women, the youth and the « Batwa » are currently taken into consideration. To the credit of gender promotion, it should be noted that considerable progress has been made in terms of the integration of girls in the educational system as well as women’s empowerment. Regarding girls’ education, it is important to emphasize that their number in the primary schools, which represented less than 80% in 2000 in comparison to that of the boys, reached 91% in 20062007. However in the Secondary and Higher Education sectors less rapid progress is evident. This has a direct consequence on the participation of women in the country’s socio-economic activities. In the area of women’s empowerment it is important to point out that the percentage of women occupying political and economic decision making positions has continued to increase in recent years. To consolidate this encouraging trend, the current Constitution sanctions the participation of women in all the legislative and executive institutions. Thus close to 35% of ministerial positions are occupied by women, while the percentage of women with access to political and economic decision making positions has increased from 11.2 in 2003 to more than 20% in 2007. Concerning the youth, measures have been taken by the Government to facilitate the effective integration of this category in development activities. Can be cited among others: - The establishment of the National Youth Council;