Additional information about gender quotas

The Constitutional Amendment Act 2013 introduced the system of reserved seats for women in the National Assembly, reserving 10 per cent of the total seats for women members. The rule is applicable to the next elections to the National Assembly in 2016. The system is based on a flexible formula whereby if no woman is elected to parliament at the next elections, the five women candidates who obtain the highest number of votes will occupy the allocated seats in parliament and the number of seats in Parliament will be increased to 54 seats. If less than five women win seats in general elections, the candidates who secured the most votes will fill the allocated seats, while if five women candidates win seats in elections, the system of reserved seats will not apply and the number of seats in Parliament will be 49.

Further details of the system include the rule whereby if the seat of an elected woman parliamentarian becomes vacant, and a man wins the seat in a subsequent by-election, a woman candidate in that by- election with the most votes becomes a member of parliament to ensure the five seats remain occupied. If no woman candidate runs in that by-election a woman is chosen from the results of the last by-election or general election. If two or more women candidates obtain equal votes the winner will be decided by a lot before the Electoral Commissioner in the presence of the candidates or their authorized representatives and at least two police officers. No two women candidates from the same constituency may become members of parliament unless no other woman candidate exists to make up the prescribed number of women.

Regarding the 2021 elections, according to the Inter-Parlimentary Union (IPU), only 44 members of parliament, including four women, had been confirmed as of July 27th 2021. Seven other seats remained vacant, pending by-election triggered by election petitions.