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Legally mandated rules that require political parties to include a minimum number or percentage of women (or each gender/sex) among their electoral candidate list(s). The effectiveness of a candidate quota is impacted by several implementation elements, including the quota target, ranking/placement rules, and sanctions for non-compliance.

The quota target set by countries varies from those adopting gender parity (50/50 representation) to those setting less ambitious targets.

Ranking/placement rules establish a pattern of distribution of candidates of each gender/sex throughout candidate lists or winning candidates. Examples of ranking/placement rules include alternating male and female candidates or requiring that two out of five consecutive candidates must be of another gender/sex. Thus, they prevent quota rules from becoming merely symbolic, such as in cases where only a few women get elected because political parties have placed most of the female candidates at the bottom of the lists or in unwinnable constituencies.

Finally, sanctions for non-compliance with quota requirements may be applied, such as rejection of the candidate list, fines, and/or loss of a proportion of the public funding for election campaigns. In some countries, the legislation also provides a quota on results to ensure that the target is met.

Formal entities with decision-making power, including the ability to issue by-laws, on a range of local aspects of public affairs. Examples of deliberative bodies are local councils or assemblies. They are composed of a prescribed number of members as per national or state legislation, usually elected by universal suffrage.

Positions in either deliberative or executive bodies that are filled through a system in which voters cast ballots for a person, multiple persons, or a political party/coalition they desire to see elected. The category of elected positions includes both elected persons who competed for openly contested seats, and persons selected through legislated electoral quotas such as candidate quotas or reserved seats. Elected positions are most common for deliberative bodies of local government. Appointed positions are typically nominated by government officials from higher-ranking tiers of government. Appointments are more frequent among certain positions, such as the heads of the executive body, representatives of specific groups (e.g., disadvantaged groups, youth), and temporary committees/delegations/caretakers appointed by higher-level government officials when a local government body has been dissolved.

The rules that determine the number of seats to be elected per electoral district (single- or multi-member districts), ballot structure (how the candidates appear on the ballot and how voters can express their choice across candidates), and electoral formula (how the seats are allocated based on the number of votes obtained). The various electoral systems used are divided into the following broader electoral system groups: plurality/ majority, proportional representation, mixed, and others.

Formal entities tasked with preparing and executing decisions made by the deliberative bodies. They consist of an executive committee or a mayor and may be, in most cases, elected or appointed.

Federal states (i.e., federations) have an intermediate sphere of government operating between the central (i.e., national) government and local government levels. The intermediate sphere is comprised of a number of federated states, which may be defined as states, cantons, governorates, or other similar units in the national legislation. The federated states may have varying degrees of legislative, executive, and judicial autonomy. In federal states, the constitution, organization, and powers of local government may be defined by the legislation of the intermediate government (i.e., state legislation).

A type of Temporary Special Measure (TSM), provided for in the legal framework of a country, which sets a minimum representation of women or, most typically, a minimum of each gender/sex, to be included in elected bodies that may include local government level. Two types of legislated gender quotas exist: candidate quotas and reserved seats. The presence of legislated gender quotas is assessed by UN Women as a qualitative indicator, indicating whether the national legal framework of a country includes legal provisions on gender quotas for elections for a single or lower house of parliaments and the type of quota specified (i.e., candidate quota and/or reserved seats). In contrast to legislated gender quotas, voluntary party quotas, or simply party quotas, are defined by political parties themselves to prescribe the nomination of a certain minimum of women candidates or a minimum-maximum of both genders/sex. For more information on legislated gender quotas, see UN Women’s Gender Quota Portal.

An electoral system used in multi-member districts. Electors have more than one vote, but fewer votes than candidates to be elected. The candidates with the highest vote totals are elected.

One of the sub-national spheres of government and a result of decentralization. A process of transferring political, fiscal, and administrative powers from the central government to sub-national units of government distributed across the territory of a country to regulate and/or run certain government functions or public services on their own.

The definition of local government follows the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA) distinction between central, state, and local government (para 4.129). Local government consists of local government units, defined in the SNA as “institutional units whose fiscal, legislative and executive authority extends over the smallest geographical areas distinguished for administrative and political purposes” (para 4.145). What constitutes the local government of a given country, including its organization by tiers (levels), is defined by that country’s national legal framework, including national constitutions and local government acts or equivalent legislation.

Electoral systems that combine two different electoral systems, typically one proportional representation and one plurality/majority system. In mixed systems, two distinct electoral systems using different formulae run alongside one another. The two main types of mixed systems are parallel systems and mixed member proportional.

In parallel systems, two distinct electoral systems are used to elect representatives, commonly one plurality/majority system and one proportional representation system. In parallel systems, the proportional representation component does not compensate for any disproportionality within the plurality/majority (or other) districts.

Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) combines two electoral systems: typically, a plurality/majority system and a proportional representation system. In a MMP system, the second electoral system – proportional representation – is used to compensate for any disproportionality arising from the allocation of seats decided by plurality/majority (or other) system.

Parity refers to the 50/50 representation of women and men across all decision-making spaces (formal and informal), including equal access to, and equal power within, decision-making structures (CEDAW General Recommendation No. 40 on the Equal and Inclusive Representation of Women in Decision-Making Systems).

Electoral systems in which the candidates or parties with the most votes are declared the winners. Plurality/majority systems include First-Past-The-Post (FPTP); Block Vote (BV); Party Block Vote (PBV); Alternative Vote (AV); and the Two-Round System (TRS).

FPTP is used in single-member districts. Voters cast a single vote for one individual candidate rather than a political party The candidate with the highest number of votes is elected. The winner does not have to obtain an absolute majority of votes in order to be elected.

BV is used in multi-member districts. Voters have as many votes as there are seats to be filled and can typically vote for candidates regardless of party affiliation. The winning candidates are those who obtain the highest vote totals.

PBV is used in multi-member districts. Voters have a single vote and choose between party lists rather than individual candidates. The winning party is that which receives the most votes, and its entire list of candidates is elected. There is no requirement for an absolute majority.

AV is used in single-member districts. Voters express their preferences by ranking a series of candidates in the order of their choice. If a candidate achieves the majority of voters’ first preference votes, that candidate is automatically elected. However, if no candidate achieves a majority of votes, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated from the count and their ballots are redistributed according to voters’ second preferences. This process is repeated until one candidate has obtained an absolute majority.

The TRS is used in single-member districts in which elections are held in two rounds. Voters select one candidate per round. If no candidate receives an absolute majority (50% plus one) in the first round, a second round is held. The candidate with the highest vote total in the second round is elected.

An electoral system in which parties’ share of the votes is translated into a corresponding proportion of seats in the legislature. There are two types of PR systems: List Proportional Representation (List PR) and Single Transferable Vote (STV).

List PR is used in multi-member districts. Parties present lists of candidates to the electorate. Voters vote for a party, and parties win seats in proportion to their total share of votes in the district. List PR systems differ depending on whether party lists are closed or open.

STV is used in multi-member districts. Voters rank candidates in order of preference. Candidates who exceed the specified quota of first-preference votes are directly elected. In successive counts, votes are redistributed according to preferences until all seats are elected.

An open list enables voters to indicate their preference for a party or grouping and candidate within the party or grouping.

A closed list means that voters can only vote for a party or political grouping and cannot express a preference for a particular candidate within the list. Candidates are awarded seats based on their place on the list set by the party.

Reserved seats are legislated electoral quotas that allocate a minimum proportion or number of seats for women (or other underrepresented groups), thus guaranteeing a specific minimum result in terms of gender (or other groups) representation. Reserved seats for women may be filled by using a separate list for female candidates in addition to regular candidate lists, allocation of seats to winning parties or to female candidates with the highest number of votes among those not elected on regular seats. Reserved seats typically exist in plurality/majority electoral systems and may be entrenched in a country’s constitution.

An electoral system used in multi-member districts in which each voter votes for a single candidate. The candidates with the highest vote totals are elected.

The 2008 SNA is a statistical framework jointly developed by the UN, European Commission, IMF, OECD, and the World Bank providing a consistent, comprehensive, and flexible set of macroeconomic accounts. The SNA facilitates the comparability of national statistics.

Measures of “accelerating the de facto equality between men and women” (article 4 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women). Their purpose is to accelerate the improvement of the position of women to achieve their de facto or substantive equality with men, and to effect the structural, social and cultural changes necessary to correct past and current forms and effects of discrimination against women, as well as to provide them with compensation. These measures are of temporary nature.