Article 4.19 of the Election Law requires that every list of candidates shall contain a certain number of minority gender candidates.[9] Article 4.19 is intended to increase the number of women candidates at the top of every candidates list and, thereby, increase the number of women elected. Reaching this goal, however, is made difficult by the present system of open list voting (Articles 9.9, 10.7, 11.7, and 13.5), which allows voters to ignore the order of candidates on the list. This fact was specifically observed in the 2006 elections, where more than 30 women lost seats to men who had been placed lower on the lists of candidates.[10] As none of the amendments address this issue, it is recommended that consideration be given to introducing a system ensuring a minimal percentage of each gender in the elected body to achieve the goal of Article 4.19.
