Gender Quotas Database

A 30 per cent quota for women was first adopted in 2000. The quota was intended to regulate the actual distribution of seats and to be increased until a 50–50 balance between men and women was reached. In 2001, the first national election was held with this new law, but the percentage of women in the legislature did not increase.

In light of the general elections scheduled for November 2013, the Electoral Law was amended, providing for a 40 per cent quota for women in party structures and candidate lists for presidential and legislative elections, elections to the Central American Parliament, municipalities and governorates. In multi-member constituencies or districts with only one seat to be filled, if the principal candidate is a man, the alternate must be a woman and vice versa. Furthermore, from 2013, political parties shall be granted special public funding which must be used exclusively for capacity building and promotion of women’s political participation.

For the 2016 primaries and for the general elections to be held after this date, the quota will be increased to 50 per cent for each gender. 

Although the principle of parity established in the reform of the electoral law was in place for the 2017 election, the Tribunal Supremo Electoral regulation (2016-3) which provides the details of the mechanisms for implementing the principle of parity, actually hinders real alternation in the lists for candidates to Congress, contradicting the Election Law. The regulation establishes that alternation on the lists for the National Congress elections is only mandatory from the third, fourth or fifth position on the list onwards, depending on how many positions are to be elected (EU EOM 2017).