The Gender Equality Office of the Government of Montenegro submitted the proposal for the amendment of the Law on the election of deputies and councilors to the Parliament Commission on June 2006. This proposal was the result of the conference on women in politics that was held in Podgorica on April 2006. Representatives of all parliamentary parties, NGOs and international organisations participated in the work of the conference and concluded that it is necessary to amend the law on election of deputies and councilors and introduce a quota for the less represented sex. The proposal stated that the electoral list shall have at least 1/3 candidates of the less represented sex.

The proposal had the support from certain members of the Commission, but it didn’t pass because the commission stopped its work. However, the proposal received very good media coverage, and the public supported this initiative. Newspapers were full of texts about the fact that a small number of women candidates were on the election lists for the elections that took place on 10 September 2006. Even though the proposal haven’t been approved, this can be seen as a very good step for future activities regarding the introduction of quotas for women in Montenegro.

Source: Gender Equality Office of the Government of Montenegro