First, an advanced development and institutionalisation of parties and party systems: Although little empirical research has been done on the impact of these factors, there are theoretical reasons for assuming that women, particularly if they lack political resources, can profit from running under the label of strong parties. Especially with a high level of party systems’ institutionalisation, political parties play a key role in the electoral process. Because of their control over the nomination process, strong political parties are often more decisive on the election of women than the voters themselves. For strong and institutionalised parties nominating (genuinely or supposedly) weak candidates may not be risky since their candidates are likely to win, irrespective of their gender. Even in less developed party systems party affiliation among women matters a lot as a source of electoral success, as, for example, research on regional assembly elections in Russia has shown.