"Legislated candidate quotas, provided through constitutions
and/or electoral/party laws, require that a minimum number of candidates are
women (or of the under-represented sex). This type of quota is usually a
binding form of candidate quota for all parties that intend to contest
parliamentary seats. Legislated candidate quotas give the state the opportunity
to enforce sanctions to compel political parties to abide by the adopted
standard. [According to 2013 data], around the world, 60 countries and territories
use legislated candidate quotas for the composition of lower and/or upper
houses of parliament, and/or sub-national councils. The ranking order and
placement of female candidates in winnable seats in closed list PR electoral
systems greatly influences the effectiveness of legislated candidate quotas in
ensuring the election of female candidates. [According to data extracted from
the 2013 research], 12 countries and territories with legislated candidate
quotas require a strict alternation between female and male candidates on
candidate lists for at least one level/house within the legislature (known as
zipper or zebra systems), 12 require a ranking order such as ‘one woman in
every three candidates’ or a standard close to this level, while the remaining countries
have either a very weak ranking requirement such as ‘one in every five
candidates to be a woman’ or have no ranking order requirements at all. Quota
rules that include strict alternation or a condition such as ‘one woman in
every three candidates’ require parties to field a large number of female
candidates across their entire list—not just place them at the bottom. However,
such a rule is only effective if the candidate lists are closed/blocked.[1]
[Based on 2013 data,] of the 60 countries and territories that
have legislated candidate quotas, 34 countries (57 per cent) stipulate
sanctions for non-compliance in the form of rejecting the entire list or
refusing to register the section/candidates on the list that conflict with the
provisions of the law; only eight countries (13 per cent) provide for a
financial sanction.”[2]
[1] International IDEA,
Inter-Parliamentary Union and Stockholm University (2013): op. cit., p. 23.
[2] International IDEA,
Inter-parliamentary Union and Stockholm University (2013): op. cit. p. 24.
