Gender Quotas Database

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El Salvador

El Salvador

Central America

El Salvador has a Unicameral parliament with the use of voluntary party quotas and legislated quotas for the single/lower house and at the sub-national level. 0 of 60 (0%) seats in the Asamblea legislativa / Legislative Assembly are held by women.

At a glance

Structure of parliament Unicameral

Are there legislated quotas

For the Single / Lower house? Yes
For the Upper house? No
For the Sub-national level? Yes

Are there voluntary quotas?

Adopted by political parties? Yes
Is there additional information? Yes

Single / Lower House

Asamblea legislativa / Legislative Assembly

Quota at the Sub-National Level

Voluntary Political Party Quotas*

* Only political parties represented in parliament are included. When a country has legislated quotas in place, only political parties that have voluntary quotas that exceed the percentage/number of the national quota legislation are presented in this table.

Additional information

Prior to the adoption of the quota regulation, El Salvador was a country with a relatively high percentage of women elected, due to the adoption of voluntary party quotas and a relatively high degree of compliance by parties with these rules. With the 2013 amendment to the Law on Political Parties, which will be applied for the 2015 elections, all political parties are required to include at least 30 per cent women on their candidate lists for elections at the national and sub-national level. However, political parties are still free to decide on the placement of women on the lists, as the law does not provide any rule for the ranking order of candidates.

The Law on Political Parties (Article 37) also states that political parties must include at least 30 per cent women on their lists of candidates for the elections for the Central American Parliament.

Sources

Legal Sources:

  • Constitution of El Salvador - Link
  • Electoral Law - Link
  • Political Parties Law - Link
  • Gender Quota Legislations - Link

Other Sources:

Additional reading

  • See the latest updates on El Salvador on iKNOW Politics
  • Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean: El Salvador (Official Website)
  • Htun, Mala N. 2002. Women in Political Power in Latin America. Manuscript.
  • Murcia, A., Rosekrans, K., Paniagua, M.A., and Quezada, A.Y. 1999. El Salvador Report: Transition and Participation. http://www.socialwatch.org/node/10650
  • Htun, Mala N. 1998. Women's Political Participation, Representation and Leadership in Latin America. Issue Brief, Women's Leadership Conference of the Americas.
  • Asociación Internacional para el Desarrollo Económico y Social and CIDEP. 1997. ‘El Salvador: The poor ... are they saved?’, http://www.socialwatch.org/node/10589
  • El Salvador Parliament website, http://www.asamblea.gob.sv/

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