Additional information about gender quotas

The legislative amendment of 2009 stipulating a 50% quota for women in the assembly as well as strict alternation on lists (Electoral Code, Articles 2 and 52) will apply to the 2014 legislative elections. In addition to the electoral gender quotas, the Electoral Law provides that the statutes of the political parties must include provisions for the promotion of gender equality within the party as a whole (Article 52). While the quota rule of 40% was implemented in the 1998 elections, the electoral authorities did not reject lists that did not meet the quota requirement, resulting in criticism from various organizations.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal ruled in 1999 that the quota law should be interpreted in the following way: lists should comprise a minimum of 40% of either sex, and that women should have 40% of electable seats, interpreted as the number of seats the party received in the district in the previous election (Jager Contreras 2008: 5–6; Resolution 1863 of 1999).