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Good practice

Djibouti's 25% Legislated Candidate Quota Law (2018)

Djibouti · Djibouti City · See the Djibouti profile

In 2018 Djibouti raised its legal candidate quota for women from 10% to 25%, with non-compliant party lists ruled inadmissible. Women's seats jumped from 10.8% to 26.2% that year, but fell to 23.1% in 2023, below the mandated floor.

10%
Original candidate quota (2002) (2002)
25%
Raised candidate quota (2018) (2018)
10.8%
Women's seat share before reform (pre-2018)
26.2%
Women's seat share, 2018 election (2018)
23.08% (15 of 65 seats)
Women's seat share, 2023 election (2023)
Djibouti's 25% Legislated Candidate Quota Law (2018)

Details

Promoter
National Assembly of Djibouti
Period
2002-2023
Keywords
gender quotas, elections, political participation, legislation

Context

Djibouti's National Assembly first set a 10% legal candidate quota for women in 2002 (Law No. 192/AN/02/4th L). Following a 2017 IPU-supported gender-sensitivity self-assessment, it passed Law No. 219/AN/18/7th L on 11 January 2018, raising the quota to 25% and making non-compliant party lists legally inadmissible.

Results

In the February 2018 election, women's share of National Assembly seats rose from 10.8% to 26.2% — a 15.4 percentage-point jump the IPU called among the largest gains recorded anywhere that year. By the 2023 election, however, only 15 of 65 seats (23.08%) went to women, falling below the legally mandated 25% floor.

Conclusions

The source notes the 2023 shortfall illustrates a common weakness of list-based quotas: a formal inadmissibility rule can be satisfied on paper while placing women low on party lists still limits how many are actually elected.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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