Additional information about gender quotas

Previously, several proposals on quotas for women had been made between 1998 and 2000, but then abandoned in 2000. The proposal for a 25% quota for women in local bodies was dropped in the draft constitution presented to parliament and withdrawn in 2000. Tamil and Muslim party leaders opposed the quota because of the difficulties in finding women candidates. In 2002, calls for quotas were renewed. Hema Ratnayake, the Minister of Women's Affairs, has declared that her People's Alliance government will draft legislation to provide a minimum of 25% representation of women in all elected bodies: from the national parliamentary level to village councils.

In  2016, Sri Lanka’s government passed a 25% women’s quota for local elections through the Local Authorities (Amendment) Act, No. 1 of 2016. This was later amended by Act No.16 of 2017, passed in August 2017. The Election Commission has the authority to reject nomination lists submitted by a political party or contesting independent group if they do not meet the basic legal requirements for the number of women candidates (IFES 2018).