Additional information about gender quotas

The National Assembly comprises 90 deputies, of which 88 are elected from eight constituencies by proportional representation from open party lists. Each constituency is divided into 11 electoral districts and one deputy is elected per district. Voters may vote for only one candidate, rather than voting for the party’s entire candidate list. The remaining two deputies are elected by simple majority preferential vote from the Italian and the Hungarian national communities respectively. Parties must obtain at least 4 per cent of the valid votes cast in order to win a seat.

The National Assembly Elections Act adopted in 2006 contained transitional provisions applicable to the 2008 National Assembly elections, whereby party lists had to include at least 25 per cent female candidates. The number of women members in Slovenia’s parliament in 2008 increased only by one (therefore increasing the female membership in percentage from 12 per cent to 14 per cent compared to the previous election in 2004). In 2004, Slovenia’s parliament voted for a change to the Constitution allowing affirmative action in politics. In 2003, a 40 per cent quota for European Parliament elections was adopted by the parliament (including rank-order rules: at least one candidate of each sex figures in the first half of any list, and sanctions are applied for non-compliance).