Additional information about gender quotas

The electoral legislation detailing the minimum number of women in parties’ candidate lists and the sanctions for non-compliance was introduced in 2005, an important reform attributed to a large extent to the lobbying of advocacy groups and organizations working on gender equality and women’s rights unified in the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. However, the initial objective set by the WATC to achieve the introduction of the minimum 30 per cent quota requirement for political parties’ candidates lists has not been achieved.

In the 2006 elections, 17 women were elected to parliament. All 17 were elected via the list proportional representation segment of the election, while none of the women candidates in the single member districts were elected.

At the sub-national level, before the system of quotas for women in local council elections was introduced, 56 women had registered as candidates for local council elections. Upon the introduction of the quota provisions into the law in December 2004, despite the fact that the elections were already underway in some districts, the number of women candidates jumped from 56 to 152. In August 2005, while local council elections were still underway, another set of new provisions entered into force, requiring that women be granted at least two seats in councils with up to 13 members, with at least one woman taking up the seat on the list within the first five names, and another one in the following set of five names. For other, larger councils, the next five candidates had to include at least one woman candidate (see above).

Following the collapse of the Fatah–Hamas unity government in 2007, President Abbas appointed the new government and issued a decree which revoked the electoral law adopted in 2005. The new decree, disputed by many as legally invalid, introduces a new proportional representation system and includes provisions on candidate quotas for women that are similar to those introduced by the 2005 electoral law. Due to the ongoing internal strife between Fatah and Hamas and the continued Israeli–Palestinian conflict, elections have not been held since 2006 and the ability of the Palestinian Legislative Council to function properly is severely limited.

In 2021, a new amendment was introduced to the Palestinian electoral law stipulating on a 26% quota for women in the Palestinian parliament for the next elections.