SHARECountry Data
Niger (Republic of Niger) has a Unicameral parliament with the use of voluntary party quotas. 29 of 171 (17%) seats in the Assemblée nationale / National Assembly are held by women.
At a glance
Structure of Parliament: Unicameral
Are there legislated quotas...
- For the Single/Lower House? Yes
- For the Sub-National Level? Yes
Are there voluntary quotas...
- Adopted by political parties? Yes
Is there additional information?...
- Yes
Last updated: Apr 24, 2019
Single/Lower House
Assemblée nationale / National Assembly
| Total seats | 171 |
| Total Women | 29 |
| % Women | 17% |
| Election Year | 2016 |
| Electoral System | List PR |
| Quota Type | Reserved seats |
| Election details | IDEA Voter Turnout - IPU Parline |
| Legal source | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Quota type: Reserved seats | Constitution | |
| Electoral law | In parliamentary and local elections, the lists submitted by political parties, groups of political parties or groups of independent candidates should include candidates of both sexes. At the announcement of final results, the proportion of elected candidates of either sex should not be less than 10%’ (Article 3 of Law 2000/08 establishing a quota system for elected offices). Any political party or group of independent candidates that obtains at least 3 seats in a constituency must ensure the implementation of the 10% quota requirement (Decree 2001-056/PRN/MDSP/PF/PE of 28 February 2001 on the application of the quota law). |
|
| Legal sanctions for non-compliance | Law establishing a quota system for elected offices | The Constitutional Court rejects the candidate lists that do not comply with the gender quota requirements, and asks parties to correct them. |
| Rank order/placement rules | No | None |
| Is the provision of direct public funding to political parties related to gender equality among candidates? | No | BLANK See more in International IDEA's Political Finance database |
| Are there provisions for other financial advantages to encourage gender equality in political parties? | No | BLANK See more in International IDEA's Political Finance database |
Quota at the Sub-National Level
- Quota type: Reserved seats
| Legal source | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Quota type: Reserved seats | Constitution | |
| Electoral law | ‘In parliamentary and local elections, the lists submitted by political parties, groups of political parties or groups of independent candidates should include candidates of both sexes. At the announcement of final results, the proportion of elected candidates of either sex, should not be less than 10%’ (Article 3 of Law 2000/08 establishing a quota system for elected offices). Any political party or group of independent candidates that obtains at least 3 seats in a constituency must ensure the implementation of the 10% quota requirement (Decree 2001-056/PRN/MDSP/PF/PE of 28 February 2001 on the application of the quota law). |
|
| Legal sanctions for non-compliance | Quota law | The Constitutional Court rejects the candidate lists that do not comply with the gender quota requirements and requests parties to correct them. |
| Rank order/placement rules | No | None |
Voluntary Political Party Quotas*
| Party | Official name | Details, Quota provisions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Movement for a Society in Development | Mouvement National pour la Société de Développement [MNSD-NASSARA] | Prior to multiparty elections in the 1990s, the MNSD set aside 5 seats for women through the quota system adopted by the party. In 1999 the party adopted a 10 percent quota for women on electoral lists (party statutes, article 93). |
* 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
The 10 per cent quota is applied to the total number of elected members on each list. If a political party or group of candidates obtains at least three seats in a constituency, it must adjust the number of its elected members in order to fulfil the 10 per cent quota requirement. In the 2011 legislative elections, political parties did the necessary adjustments through an internal process, before submitting to the Constitutional Council their final lists of elected candidates (European Union Electoral Observation Mission 2011: 21). In relation to public funding for political parties, the Ordinance on the Charter of Political Parties provides that the public funding of political parties is set at 0.30 per cent of annual tax revenues of the state. A total of 10 per cent of this fund is distributed among parties in proportion to the number of women elected by the quota at all levels.
In addition, according to the quota law, no less than 25 per cent of nominations for high-ranking government posts shall be given to persons of either sex.
Sources
LEGAL SOURCES:
- Loi 2000-08 du 07 juin 2000 instituant un système de quota dans les fonctions électives, au Gouvernement et dans l’administration de l’État [Law 2000-08 of 7 June 2000 establishing a quota system for elected offices, in the government and the state administration], accessed 24 April 2018;
- Décret no 2001-056/PRN/MDSP/PF/PE du 28 février 2001 portant application de la loi sur le quota [Decree no. 2001-056/PRN/MDSP/PF/PE of 28 February 2001 on the application of the quota law];
OTHER SOURCES:
- WAGIC [Women’s Forum, Project for the promotion of women’s political participation], ‘Document de plaidoyer présenté par le projet alternative WAGIC au forum des femmes' [Advocacy document presented by the WAGIC Project and the Alternative forum for women], accessed 03 April 2014;
- European Union Election Observation Mission, ‘Niger: Rapport Final, Élections Législatives et Présidentielle, 31 janvier–12 mars 2011’ [Final report on the Nigerien legislative and presidential elections,31 January–12 March 2011], accessed 03 April 2014
Additional reading
- Yoon, Mi Yung. 2001. ‘Democratization and Women's Legislative Representation in Sub-Saharan Africa’, Democratization. Vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 169-190.
- Niger Parliament website, http://www.assemblee.ne/