Macedonia’s Electoral Quota System is a Model for Gender Participation
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| (From l-r) Binia Salwa (Sudan), Ermira Mehmet (Macedonia) and Tabitha Kenyi (Sudan) take time for a photo during the conference. |
Hoping to share Macedonia’s positive record of increasing women’s participation in political institutions, Macedonian Member of Parliament Ermira Mehmeti went to Kampala, Uganda to take part in the “Women Leading in Parties and Campaigns” Regional Conference coordinated by the International Republican Institute (IRI) April 14-16, 2009. The conference aimed to empower women leaders in East Africa by developing strategies to overcome the challenges they face in political parties, building mentoring relationships between senior and young women leaders, and establishing networks among them. Mehmeti’s participation was supported by USAID’s Political Party Strengthening Project. “This conference was a great opportunity for networking and strengthening communication between women, a process….essential for building successful careers for women in politics,” she reported.
Mehmeti gave a plenary presentation on the development and success of Macedonia’s proportional representation system. In 2006, largely due to the advocacy of women leaders, the Macedonian Women’s Lobby and the Women’s Parliamentary Club, Macedonia adopted an electoral quota system which has allowed talented women like Mehmeti to achieve leadership positions in the Macedonian political system. The election code stipulates that one in every three positions on a party’s candidate list for parliament and for municipal council must be filled by a woman. In a proportional system, an individual’s priority position on a candidate list is significant because the party will fill the number of seats it wins with candidates in the order their names were placed on the list. Thus, the one-in-three stipulation ensures that women are placed at the top of candidate lists so that they are included among the winning places.
The quota system has dramatically increased the number of women in elected offices. In the 2006 elections, 36 of the 120 parliamentary seats were secured by women, increasing their representation from 21 percent to 30 percent; currently, women hold 38 seats. In 2005, women secured 23 percent of the municipal council seats across the country, whereas their previous representation had been only 8 percent. Although the final count from the 2009 elections is not yet available, it is projected that women may now have nearly 27 percent of those seats.
Mehmeti was impressed by the women she met in Kampala. “It was truly striking to see their determination and commitment to bring democracy to their societies and to secure a decent, dignified and respected position for women within their societies wrecked by wars, poverty or even lack of basic living conditions,” she said. “Their spirit, their views and understanding of this battle are a true inspiration to every woman aspiring to join politics and reach senior positions within parties but also in government.”
The USAID Political Party Strengthening Project in Macedonia, implemented by the IRI, has worked to increase the participation of women in political and government institutions since 2002.
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