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Good practice Imported

Mongolia's Gender Candidate Quota Reform — 30% Requirement for the State Great Khural (2023)

Mongolia · Ulaanbaatar · See the Mongolia profile · See the Ulaanbaatar profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 55% 63/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Mongolia's 2023 electoral reform raised its gender candidate quota from 20% to 30% and introduced an alternating list, expanding parliament to 126 seats. Women's representation rose from 17.1% (2020) to a record 25.4% (32/126 seats) at the 2024 election.

13 of 76 (17.1%)
Women's seats in the State Great Khural (2020)
32 of 126 (25.4%)
Women's seats in the State Great Khural (2024)
519 people
Women candidates in the 2024 election (2024)
8 of 316 (~2.5%)
Success rate of women constituency (FPTP) candidates (2024)
97%
Mongolians holding some bias against women in leadership roles (2023)
Mongolia's Gender Candidate Quota Reform — 30% Requirement for the State Great Khural (2023)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
State Great Khural / General Electoral Commission of Mongolia
Period
2011–present (quota raised from 20% to 30% in 2023)
Keywords
elections, political representation, gender quota, legislation

Context

Mongolia introduced a 20% women-candidate quota with its 2011 mixed-member system. A May 2023 constitutional amendment expanded the State Great Khural from 76 to 126 seats, added proportional-representation and constituency tiers, raised the candidate quota to a minimum 30% for one gender with 'zipper' alternating lists on PR slates, and empowered the General Electoral Commission to reject non-compliant lists, supported by UNDP Mongolia's 2021-2025 programme (funded by KOICA).

Results

In the 28 June 2024 election — the first under the new system — 519 women stood as candidates (a record) and 32 of 126 seats (25.4%) went to women, up from 13 of 76 seats (17.1%) in 2020. International IDEA notes this exceeds the Asia-Pacific regional average (21.5%) and approaches the global average (26.9%). The gains came almost entirely through the list mechanism: 24 of 32 women elected won via party lists, while only 8 of 316 women constituency candidates won direct seats (~2.5% success rate).

Conclusions

A further quota increase to 40% is planned for the 2028 election. UNDP's own reporting notes a persistent gap between formal quota gains and underlying social attitudes: its cited 2023 Gender Social Norms Index found 97% of Mongolians hold some bias against women in leadership roles.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
General Electoral Commission of Mongolia, UNDP Mongolia programme team, Secretariat of the National Committee on Gender Equality

Conditions for success

  • Legally enforceable quota with list-rejection power for the Electoral Commission
  • 'Zipper' alternating-list requirement on proportional-representation slates
  • Donor-funded technical support (UNDP/KOICA) to institutions implementing the reform

Common failure modes

  • Quota gains concentrated almost entirely in the list/PR tier — first-past-the-post constituency seats remain heavily male

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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