Georgia's Mandatory Electoral Gender Quotas — Women's Representation Gains and Quota Reversal (2020–2024)

On 29 June 2020, Georgia's Parliament amended the Electoral Code to require that every fourth seat won through party-list proportional representation go to a candidate of a different gender, effective from the October 2020 parliamentary elections; the reform was supported by UNDP Georgia and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

The quota applied to proportional-list seats in the October 2020 parliamentary elections and the October 2021 local elections. A joint UNDP/NDI evaluation, published December 2022 with UK and Swedish support, assessed the reform's effects and recommended extending the quota beyond its scheduled sunset clauses (2028 local, 2032 national).

Women's share of parliamentary seats rose from 14% to about 20% after the 2020 elections, with women winning 31.4% of proportional-list mandates versus 19.8% in 2017; women's share of local council seats rose from 13.8% to 24% after the October 2021 elections. The UNDP evaluation found political parties broadly welcomed the mechanism, citing previously untapped qualified women candidates.

In October 2024, Georgia's Parliament voted to abolish the mandatory gender quotas, citing sovereignty concerns; the Venice Commission and UN bodies publicly criticised the repeal. The case illustrates that legislated quotas can produce measurable gains within a single electoral cycle yet remain vulnerable to political reversal without deeper embedding in party culture or constitutional protection.