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Good practice Imported

Maldives' 33% Reserved-Seat Quota for Women in Local Councils (2019 Decentralisation Act Amendment)

Maldives · Malé · See the Maldives profile · See the Malé profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 48% 70/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Maldives' 2019 law reserved 33% of local council seats for women. In the first election under it (April 2021), women won 389 of 981 seats (40%), up from ~6% — though none has yet chaired a council.

6 %
Women's council seats (pre-2019)
389 of 981 (40%) seats
Women's council seats won (April 2021 election)
5 %
Women in national parliament (2024)
11.6 %
Women candidates in national parliamentary election (2024)
Maldives' 33% Reserved-Seat Quota for Women in Local Councils (2019 Decentralisation Act Amendment)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Elections Commission of Maldives
Period
2019–2021 (ongoing)
Keywords
local government, electoral quotas, decentralisation, women's political participation

Context

Before 2019, women held only about 6% of seats on Maldivian island and city councils, and no legal mechanism guaranteed women's political representation at the local level.

Objectives

The eighth amendment to the Decentralisation Act, passed in 2019, reserved 33% of island and city council seats for women, to take effect from the next local council election.

Results

In the local council elections held in April 2021, the first under the new rule, women won 389 of 981 seats — about 40% of the total, exceeding the 33% reserved-seat floor. The Elections Commission of Maldives' official results were independently corroborated by IFES's election analysis and Maldives Independent reporting.

Conclusions

Gains are numeric rather than fully embedded in decision-making power: no woman has yet presided over a local council, and Women's Development Committees often lack formal decision-making authority, stable funding or control over priority sectors. The Maldives has no gender quota for its national parliament, where women held just 5% of seats and made up only 11.6% of candidates in the 2024 parliamentary election.

Implementation

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

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