Moldova's 40% Gender Quota for Electoral Candidate Lists (Law No. 71/2016)

Moldova's Law No. 71/2016, adopted after civil-society advocacy and a Swedish-funded joint UN Women-UNDP programme, amended fifteen pieces of legislation to require at least 40% of each sex on party candidate lists for parliamentary and local elections, with a placement rule of at least 4 candidates of the less-represented sex per 10 list positions.

The Central Election Commission enforces the quota by rejecting non-compliant candidate lists at registration; it has applied continuously since 2016 across the 2019, 2021 and 2025 parliamentary elections and multiple local election cycles.

Women's share of parliamentary seats rose from about 22% before the law to a peak of 39.6% (40 of 101 seats) after the 2021 election; women's share of registered candidates reached 46.7% in 2021 and 44.5% in 2025; local council seats reached roughly 40.8% women by 2024. Women remain disproportionately placed in lower, less-electable list positions (only 28% of top-five positions in 2019 despite full 40% list compliance), and a voluntary state-funding bonus for parties nominating women in single-member constituencies went unclaimed.

The list quota reliably delivers nomination-stage compliance and has coincided with a large rise in elected women, but placement-rule gaps limit its effect on the most electable list positions, and UN Women reporting notes Roma women and women with disabilities remain largely excluded from public life despite the quota's overall gains.