Additional information about gender quotas

While providing mandatory candidates quotas for women candidates, the legal framework does not specify mechanisms for the allocation of seats to women in a manner that would translate the quota requirements into actual seat allocations in the elected Parliament.

In order to address this issue, an Inter-Ministerial circular was issued in advance of the 2012 Parliamentary Elections, specifying the formula for the allocation of seats for women. During the 2012 legislative elections, political parties largely respected the women’s quota requirements, nominating a total of 7700 women candidates, or approximately 31 per cent of the total number of candidates. However, given that the law falls short of specifying ranking rules, a limited number of party lists were headed by women and relatively few party lists in certain constituencies alternated male and female candidates