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At a glance

Structure of Parliament: Bicameral

Are there legislated quotas...

  • Yes for the Single/Lower House?
  • Yes for the Upper House?
  • Yes at the Sub-national level?

Are there voluntary quotas...

  • Yes adopted by political parties?

Is there additional information?

Yes

Spain

(Kingdom of Spain)

Single/Lower house

Congreso de los Diputados / Congress of Deputies

Total seats:350
Total women:126
% women: 36%
Election year:2011
Electoral system:Parallel
Quota type: Legislated Candidate Quotas
Election details: IDEA Voter Turnout
IPU Parline
Legal sourceDetails
Quota type:
Legislated Candidate Quotas		 Electoral law “Lists of candidates put forward under this Act for elections to Congress, municipal elections and elections to Insular Councils of the Canary Islands or to European Parliament or Legislative Assemblies of Self-Governing Communities, shall have a balanced proportion of women and men, so that candidates of either sex make up at least 40 per 100 of total membership. Where the number of seats to be covered is less than five, the ratio between women and men shall be as close as possible to equal balance” (Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General, Section 44 bis/para. 1).
Legal sanctions for non-compliance: Electoral law The political parties are given a short period to adjust lists that do not meet the quota requirement. If they fail to do so, the lists will not be approved by the Electoral Commission (section 49).
Rank order/placement rules: Electoral law Quotas are not only applied to the whole party lists but also every five posts. If the number of eligible posts is less than five, then the list must be as close as possible to the 40-60 percent equilibrium (Section 44 bis/para. 2).

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Last updated 2013-06-04

Upper house

Senado / Senate

Total seats: 263
Total women:88
% women: 33%
Election year:2011
Electoral system:
Quota type: Legislated Candidate Quotas
Election details: IPU Parline
Legal sourceDetails
Quota type:
Legislated Candidate Quotas
 Electoral law Where candidates to Senate are grouped in lists those lists shall also have a balanced ratio of women and men, so that the total proportion is as close as possible to equal balance (section 44.para 4)
Legal sanctions for non-compliance: Electoral law The political parties are given a short period to adjust lists that do not meet the quota requirement. If they fail to do so, the lists will not be approved by the Electoral Commission (section 49).
Rank order/placement rules: Electoral law Quotas are not only applied to the whole party lists but also every five posts. If the number of eligible posts is less than five, then the list must be as close as possible to the 40-60 percent equilibrium (Section 44 bis/para. 2).

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Last updated 2013-06-04

Quota at the Sub-National Level

Quota type:Legislated Candidate Quotas
Legal sourceDetails
Quota type:
Legislated Candidate Quotas
 Electoral law “Lists of candidates put forward under this Act for elections to Congress, municipal elections and elections to Insular Councils of the Canary Islands or to European Parliament or Legislative Assemblies of Self-Governing Communities, shall have a balanced proportion of women and men, so that candidates of either sex make up at least 40 per 100 of total membership. Where the number of seats to be covered is less than five, the ratio between women and men shall be as close as possible to equal balance” (Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General, Section 44 bis/para. 1). - Villages under 3,000 inhabitants will not be obliged to comply with the Equality Law.
Legal sanctions for non-compliance: Electoral law The political parties are given a short period to adjust lists that do not meet the quota requirement. If they fail to do so, the lists will not be approved by the Electoral Commission (section 49).
Rank order/placement rules: Electoral law Quotas are not only applied to the whole party lists but also every five posts. If the number of eligible posts is less than five, then the list must be as close as possible to the 40-60% equilibrium (Section 44 bis/para. 2).

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Last updated 2013-06-04

Voluntary Political Party Quotas*

PartyAcronymOfficial NameDetails, Quota provisions
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party PSOE Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol Since 1997, PSOE has a 40 percent quota for either sex (party statutes, 2009, article 7k). The party first introduced a quota rule, at 25 percent, in 1988.
United Left IU Izquierda Unida Since 1997, IU has a 40 percent quota for either sex (party statutes 2008, article 7). The quota was first introduced in 1989, at 25 percent.
Socialist Party of Catalonia PSC Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya PSC has a 40 percent quota for either sex (2000). The quota was first introduced in 1982 (12 percent) and enlarged in 1987 (15 percent), 1990 (25 percent) and 1996 (30 percent).
Initiative for Catalonia- Green ICV Iniciativa per Catalunya-Verds ICV has a 40 percent quota for either sex (2002). The quota was first introduced in 1991 (30 percent).
Republican Left of Catalonia ERC Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya ERC has a 40 percent quota for either sex (2004).
Nationalist Galician Block BNG Bloque Nacionalista Galego Quotas were approved by BNG in 2002 (40 percent quota for either sex).
Canarian Coalition CC Coalición Canaria A 40 percent quota for either sex was approved by CC in 2000. (Party statutes, 2008, article 4:18.)

* 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.

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Last updated 2010-10-04

Additional information

In March 2007 the Equality Law (Ley de Igualdad) modified the electoral law and introduced the "principle of balanced presence" of female and male candidates. Party electoral lists are required to have a minimum of 40 percent and a maximum of 60 percent of either sex among their candidates in elections to the Lower house (Congress of Deputies). The law was first applied in the general elections of March 2008.The Electoral Law (as amended in 2007) also applies to regional and local elections. It was first applied in the local and regional elections of May 2007. The provisions do not apply to villages with less than 5,000 inhabitants. By 2011 only villages under 3,000 inhabitants will not be obliged to comply with the Equality Law. Quota requirements are also included in regional laws. By March 2007 several Autonomous Communities had adopted quotas to the regional elections such as Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia and the Basque Country. In the latter case, women have to represent at least 50 percent of any party’s electoral list. In the first elections when the quota was to be enforced, some provincial electoral authorities did not reject lists that did not comply with the rules. Some parties challenged those lists before administrative courts and lists failing to comply with gender-based parity were forced to be amended or be invalidated. 

Voluntary Quotas: Conservative parties have not introduced internal quotas but some of them apply targets. The two Catalan conservative parties members of the coalition Convergence and Union (Convergència i Unió), Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya) and Democratic Union of Catalonia (Unió Democràtica de Catalunya), consider parity to be a party's aim since the last party congresses celebrated in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Even the Popular Party (Partido Popular), who actively rejects quotas, recognizes in the preamble of its party constitution that the party must keep progressing towards a complete equality between men and women in party boards as well as in its institutional representation (2004). 

The Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco), the senior member of the government coalition in this region, supported the Equality Law passed in the Basque Country in 2005 which obliges the government to incorporate a 40 percent quota for either sex in the composition of the cabinet and states that in party electoral lists women must constitute at least 50 percent of all candidates.
Last updated 2013-06-04

Sources

Law on Regime of General Elections 1985 (as amended by Ley Orgánica 3/2007) Article 44(1,2) and Article 47:4.


http://www.juntaelectoralcentral.es/portal/page/portal/JuntaElectoralCentral/JuntaElectoralCentral/NormElec

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