"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]