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One fifth but no further? Analysis of Women’s Descriptive Representation and Quota Implementation in Croatia since 2011

Even during the exit polls of 2016 early parliamentary elections in Croatia it became evident that, women’s parliamentary representation which had already declined in 2015, will further deteriorate. It is the purpose of this article to analyze the results of recent parliamentary elections and explain this downward trend in representation of women. Emphasis is given on legislative gender quotas and their implementation by major parliamentary parties (PP). For research purposes a dataset of all the winning lists’ candidates for the 2011, 2015 and 2016 elections was created. The following hypotheses are put to the test: decline in the representation of women can be attributed to the (1) failure to adjust to the 40% quota by the major parties ; (2) low positioning of women on lists ; and (3) increased electoral success of smaller political parties. The results of the analysis suggest that Croatian parties were adjusting to the quota requirements in the last two regular elections. However, they did this in a very pragmatic way placing women at the bottom of the lists. Ramifications of these actions for women MPs were that smaller parties’ successes diminished their electoral chances and the overall women’s parliamentary representation.

parliamentary elections ; quota ; Croatia ; women ; descriptive representation

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