Zipper system

Last updated
Part of the Politics and Economics series
Electoral systems
A coloured voting box (no bg).svg
Single-winner methods
Single vote-plurality methods

Condorcet methods

Positional voting

Cardinal voting

Proportional representation
Party-list

Quota-remainder methods

Approval-based committees

Fractional social choice

Mixed systems
By results of combination
By mechanism of combination

By ballot type

Paradoxes and pathologies
Spoiler effects

Pathological response

Strategic voting

Paradoxes of majority rule

Social and collective choice
Impossibility theorems

Positive results

A coloured voting box.svg Politicsportal Emblem-money.svg Economicsportal

The zipper system, also known as "vertical parity" or the "zebra system", [1] [2] is an electoral mechanism intended to enforce gender parity in countries using party-list proportional representation with closed lists. It requires that parties alternate between candidates of either gender on their candidate lists, meaning that 50% of the candidates on the list are women and 50% are men. [3] The zipper system is applied to election laws with the goal of establishing gender parity. [3]

Contents

However, the mathematical mechanism behind the naive zipper system is faulty, and as a result will favor whichever gender is more likely to be placed on the list first. [4] More modern variants on the zipper system, based on the fair share sequence, biproportional apportionment, and other rules can enforce gender quotas much more precisely, while introducing less distortion into party lists. [4]

Process

The zipper system requires parties to create a candidate list in which the gender of the candidates alternates between women and men so that when seats are allocated, the gender of the elected members alternates for each additional seat a party wins. [3] [4]

Vertical parity can also be combined with horizontal parity, which works towards the same goal. [5] Horizontal parity requires that each party also fields an equal number of candidate lists with female and male candidates at the top of the list across each constituency that the party contests. [5] However, this does not necessarily lead to parity as one gender may be placed first in constituencies where their party is unlikely to win any seats. [4]

Some countries use gender quotas on party lists in an attempt to promote gender parity, but with no rank order rule this can be purely symbolic, [6] as women may all be placed near the bottom of the party list and be less likely to be elected. [7] [8] [9]

Use

Some countries mandate the zipper system in their electoral laws. Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Senegal, South Korea, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe all implement the zipper system in at least one elected body. [1] [10] Of these countries, many do not use the zipper system evenly across legislative bodies, or have additional requirements. In France only bodies elected by proportional systems use the zipper system. [11] Zimbabwe uses the zipper system in Senate elections and only requires 60 out of the 80 seats apply the zipper system. [12] In addition to vertical parity, Costa Rica uses a horizontal parity system, requiring parties to alternate between men and women at the top of their lists in different provinces. [13] Mauritania requires constituencies with more than three seats to use the zipper system. [14] Zipper systems were also introduced in Italy in 1993, but were overturned by the constitutional court in 1995. [15]

The Swedish Social Democratic Party in Vasaparken in 2013 Swedish Social Democratic Party in Vasaparken in 2013.jpg
The Swedish Social Democratic Party in Vasaparken in 2013

In countries without a legal requirement, some parties choose to implement the zipper system on their own lists, such as the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP). [3] The SAP's introduction of the zipper system in 1993 led to 48% of its candidates in the 1994 general elections being women, and contributed to a record number of female MPs being elected to the Riksdag. [3] Elsewhere, until 2007, local left-wing parties in some provinces of Spain, including Andalusia, Castile-La Mancha, and the Balearic Islands, voluntarily implemented zipped candidate lists after the Popular Party obstructed implementing a zipper system in local election laws for the regions. [16] With the passage of the Equality Law under the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party, local zipper laws took effect in 2007. [16]

Analysis

Although the zipper system rank-order rule requires a 50–50 split between women and men on party lists, it does not always translate to equality of representation in legislatures. [6] While parties are required to alternate between men and women, they often put a man in the first position on the list. [17] If parties win odd numbers of seats in a given election and the party list begins with a man, the number of men elected will be equal to the number of women elected plus one. [4] This gender imbalance is unavoidable where there are odd numbers of seats. If this is a common occurrence across different constituencies and electoral districts, the gender breakdown of the final electoral body will often still be skewed. [4]

Some studies have argued both genders tend to be evenly-placed within party lists, making the zipper system unnecessary, but research on this topic is mixed. [8] [18] [19]

Related Research Articles

Proportional representation (PR) refers to any type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions among voters. The essence of such systems is that all votes cast – or almost all votes cast – contribute to the result and are effectively used to help elect someone. Under other election systems, a bare plurality or a scant majority are all that are used to elect candidates. Further, a PR system is one that produces mixed and balanced representation, reflecting how votes are cast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Single transferable vote</span> Multi-winner electoral system

The single transferable vote (STV), a type of proportional ranked choice voting, is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternative preferences if their preferred candidate is eliminated or elected with surplus votes, so that their vote is used to elect someone they prefer over others in the running. STV aims to approach proportional representation based on votes cast in the district where it is used, so that each vote is worth about the same as another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open list</span> Personalized list proportional voting system

Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, in which party lists are in a predetermined, fixed order by the time of the election and gives the general voter no influence at all on the position of the candidates placed on the party list.

An electoraldistrict, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a subdivision of a larger state created to provide its population with representation in the larger state's legislature. That body, or the state's constitution or a body established for that purpose, determines each district's boundaries and whether each will be represented by a single member or multiple members. Generally, only voters (constituents) who reside within the district are permitted to vote in an election held there. District representatives may be elected by a first-past-the-post system, a proportional representative system, or another voting method. They may be selected by a direct election under universal suffrage, an indirect election, or another form of suffrage.

At a national level, Greece holds elections for its legislature, the Hellenic Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in Senegal</span>

Senegal elects on the national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a seven-year term by the people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Assembly (Burundi)</span>

The National Assembly is the lower chamber of Parliament in Burundi. It consists of 100 directly elected members and between 18 and 23 co-opted members who serve five-year terms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Assembly (Mauritania)</span> Unicameral national legislature of Mauritania

The National Assembly is the unicameral legislative house of the Parliament of Mauritania. The legislature currently has 176 deputies, elected for five-year terms in electoral districts or nationwide proportional lists.

In many countries, women have been underrepresented in the government and different institutions. This historical tendency still persists, although women are increasingly being elected to be heads of state and government.

All-women shortlists (AWS) is an affirmative action practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political party. Labour abandoned the shortlist for general election purposes in March 2022. Political parties in other countries, such as South Korea and various Latin American countries, have used practices analogous to AWS, especially in relation to government sex quotas.

An electoral or voting system is a set of rules used to determine the results of an election. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, non-profit organisations and informal organisations. These rules govern all aspects of the voting process: when elections occur, who is allowed to vote, who can stand as a candidate, how ballots are marked and cast, how the ballots are counted, how votes translate into the election outcome, limits on campaign spending, and other factors that can affect the result. Political electoral systems are defined by constitutions and electoral laws, are typically conducted by election commissions, and can use multiple types of elections for different offices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's political participation in India</span>

The term 'political participation' has a very wide meaning. It is not only related to 'Right to Vote', but simultaneously relates to participation in: decision-making process, political activism, political consciousness, etc. Women in India participate in voting, run for public offices and political parties at lower levels more than men. Political activism and voting are the strongest areas of women's political participation. To combat gender inequality in politics, the Indian Government has instituted reservations for seats in local governments.

The Argentine law 24,012 or Argentine quota law seeks to increase the number of women in government in Argentina, by setting quotas for the minimum representation of women on the ballots of each party at the legislative elections. The law was enacted in 1991, during the presidency of Carlos Menem, and was the first gender quota law to be passed in Latin America. Following Argentina's lead, eleven other Latin American countries have since introduced gender quotas to increase female representation at the national level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Mauritanian parliamentary election</span>

Parliamentary elections were held in Mauritania in September 2018; the first round took place on 1 September, with a second round held on 15 September. At the national level, elections were held in 157 constituencies, each electing one member to the National Assembly. Elections were also held in 13 regional councils and 219 municipalities.

RepresentWomen is a 501(c)(3) organization that argues in favor of institutional reforms to help women achieve gender parity in public office in the United States. The organization conducts research and advocacy work to advance women's representation through candidate recruitment rules, electoral reforms, and the modernization of legislative rules. Their mission, according to their website, is to "strengthen our democracy by advancing reforms that break down barriers to ensure more women can run, win, serve, and lead."

Mala Htun is an American political scientist, currently a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico. Htun studies comparative politics, particularly women's rights and the politics of race and ethnicity with a focus on Latin America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Chilean Constitutional Convention election</span> 2021 Chilean Constitutional Convention election

An election for the members of the Constitutional Convention was held in Chile between 15 and 16 May 2021. This election was called after 78% of voters in the 2020 national plebiscite voted to write a new Constitution through this method.

A gender quota is a quota used by countries and parties to increase women's representation or substantive equality based on gender in legislatures. Women are largely underrepresented in parliaments and account for a 26.9% average in parliaments globally. As of November 2021, gender quotas have been adopted in 132 countries. Around the world, quotas vary greatly in their enforcement and the stage of electoral process targeted, creating three main types of quotas: legislated candidate quotas, voluntary party quotas, and reserved seats. Regardless of their prevalence, they are a controversial measure, creating debates concerning their impacts, both negative and positive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral districts of Mauritania</span>

Mauritania is divided into several electoral districts for the election of deputies to the National Assembly, based on the departments of the country, with the exception of the capital city of Nouakchott, where the electoral districts are based on the three regions the city is divided in.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Results breakdown of the 2023 Mauritanian parliamentary election</span>

This is the results breakdown of the parliamentary elections held in Mauritania on 13 and 27 May 2023. The following tables will show detailed results in all of the electoral districts of the country.

References

  1. 1 2 "Ranking order rules and placement mandates in quota rules —". Ace Project. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  2. ↑ Larserud, Stina; Taphorn, Rita (March 2007). "Designing for Equality: Women's quotas and women's political participation". Development. 50 (1): 36–42. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100333. ISSN   1011-6370. S2CID   84374808.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Electoral Gender Quota Systems and their Implementation in Europe: Update 2013 Directorate-General for Internal Policies
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Delgado-Márquez, Blanca L.; Ramírez-González, Victoriano; López-Carmona, Adolfo (2014-04-01). "Ensuring Parliamentary Gender Equality Through a New Zipper Method: An Application to Finland". Social Indicators Research. 116 (2): 475–492. doi:10.1007/s11205-013-0301-3. ISSN   1573-0921.
  5. 1 2 "List fillers or future leaders? Female candidates in Tunisia's 2018 municipal elections". Democracy International. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  6. 1 2 Dahlerup, Drude, ed. (2005), "Electoral quotas: frequency and effectiveness", Women, Quotas and Politics, Routledge, pp. 283–300, doi:10.4324/9780203099544-25, ISBN   978-0-203-09954-4 , retrieved 2021-12-13
  7. ↑ Htun, Mala N.; Jones, Mark P. (2002), "Engendering the Right to Participate in Decision-making: Electoral Quotas and Women's Leadership in Latin America", Gender and the Politics of Rights and Democracy in Latin America, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 32–56, doi:10.1057/9781403914118_2, ISBN   978-1-349-42700-0 , retrieved 2021-12-08
  8. 1 2 Htun, Mala N. (2005). "Women, Political Parties and Electoral Systems in Latin America". In Julie Ballington; Azza Karam (eds.). Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers (PDF). International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. pp. 112–121. ISBN   9185391190.
  9. ↑ Delgado-Márquez, Blanca L.; Ramírez-González, Victoriano; López-Carmona, Adolfo (2014-04-01). "Ensuring Parliamentary Gender Equality Through a New Zipper Method: An Application to Finland". Social Indicators Research. 116 (2): 475–492. doi:10.1007/s11205-013-0301-3. ISSN   1573-0921. S2CID   154571217.
  10. ↑ "Parliamentary Elections 2024: Yet Another New Election System". Mongolia Focus. 12 March 2024.
  11. ↑ France IDEA Gender Quotas Database
  12. ↑ Zimbabwe IDEA Gender Quotas Database
  13. ↑ Piscopo, Jennifer M. (2014). "Rights, Equality, and Democracy: The Shift from Quotas to Parity in Latin America". SSRN   2529904.
  14. ↑ Al Jamiya-Al-Wataniya (National Assembly) IPU
  15. ↑ 4. Quotas and Affirmative Action to increase female participation in political life Directorate-General for Research
  16. 1 2 Verge, Tània (March 2012). "Institutionalising Gender Equality in Spain: From Party Quotas to Electoral Gender Quotas". West European Politics. 35 (2): 395–414. doi:10.1080/01402382.2011.648014. ISSN   0140-2382. S2CID   153880831.
  17. ↑ "Gender equality ruling aims for nearly 50/50 male-female Costa Rican legislature". The Tico Times. 2016-05-27. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  18. ↑ Htun, Mala N.; Jones, Mark P. (2002), "Engendering the Right to Participate in Decision-making: Electoral Quotas and Women's Leadership in Latin America", Gender and the Politics of Rights and Democracy in Latin America, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 32–56, doi:10.1057/9781403914118_2, ISBN   978-1-349-42700-0 , retrieved 2021-12-13
  19. ↑ Schmidt, Gregory D. (2009-06-01). "The election of women in list PR systems: Testing the conventional wisdom". Electoral Studies. 28 (2): 190–203. doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2008.08.002. ISSN   0261-3794.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.