Gender Parity Law and Its 'Escape Clause' — Panama's Electoral Code

Panama's Electoral Code requires political parties to nominate men and women in equal numbers (50/50) across candidate lists for elected office. In practice, however, Article 373 of the Code — commonly called the "escape clause" — allows a party unable to find enough women candidates to complete its list with men instead, without penalty.

In the May 2024 general elections, none of Panama's political parties fully complied with the 50/50 parity requirement, according to the OAS Electoral Observation Mission. Women won 15 of the National Assembly's 71 seats (about 21%) — one seat fewer than in the previous term and among the lowest shares of women in any Latin American national legislature that year, per IPU Parline election data.

The 2024 OAS mission report recommended that Panama close the escape clause and adopt a "position mandate" (zipper-list) rule requiring alternation of men and women down the list, rather than only counting names, arguing this would give the parity requirement real force.

The CEDAW Committee had already flagged concerns in 2022 about the durability of gender-equality gains and the gender pay gap in Panama, and Freedom House's 2024 country assessment likewise notes persistent gaps between legal equality guarantees and political outcomes. Panama's experience is a cautionary illustration that a parity mandate on paper does not, by itself, guarantee parity in practice if a loophole allows parties to opt out.

Read the full analysis: https://www.oas.org/fpdb/press/PRELIMINARY-REPORT---Preliminary-Report-OAS-Electoral-Observation-Mission-in-Panama-2024.pdf