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Serbia bars party lists with under 40% women, and parliament has reached 38%, still short of the law's own bar

8 Oct. 2026 · Serbia

Since 2020 Serbia has barred from the ballot any party list with fewer than 40% women, up from the one in three required before. Women held 91 of 250 seats in the National Assembly (36.4%) after the 2022 election and 95 of 250 (38%) by July 2025, according to Equal Future's tracking, still below the 40% the law demands of every list.

A European Data Journalism Network analysis of a decade of parliamentary rosters found men still hold most seats, that gains have been uneven across parties and constituencies, and that some major parties fielded gender-balanced delegations only from 2024.

A quota on lists is not a quota on seats. The law governs who may stand, and the 40% floor applies to each list rather than to the chamber. The distance between those two numbers, 40% of candidacies and 38% of seats, is the finding.

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