Both major political parties are non-committal over proposals by the Equality Commission to make it mandatory that at least 30 per cent of candidates on electoral lists are women.

Earlier this week, the NCPE proposed mandatory quotas on candidate lists as well as suggesting alternating men and women on electoral lists, as a means of encouraging voters to pick more female candidates at the ballot.

Asked by the Times of Malta whether they supported the NCPE proposals, both the Labour and Nationalist parties highlighted their support for women in politics without commenting specifically on mandatory quotas.

“The Labour Party, a trailblazer in women’s rights in Malta, will aim at having the most possible number of female candidates, ideally more than the said 30 per cent,” a spokesman said.

“At party level, there are already quotas for the members who make up the national executive, where the statute obliges that four members out of 12 must be women.

“On a national level, the government appointed a woman to serve as President of the Republic and also appointed a record number of women to the judiciary and top executive posts.”

Clyde Puli, the Opposition spokesman on the family, said the party was in favour of greater participation of women in politics and that under Simon Busuttil’s leadership it had ensured its local committees and their representatives in the party’s executive committee were split equally between genders. He did not, however, express either support or opposition to the NCPE proposals.

“When scouting for candidates for local, general and European elections, the Nationalist Party approaches potential candidates of stature who can be and are willing to be of service to all women and men,” he said. “Having said that, the Party makes an extra effort to recruit the largest possible number of women candidates even if the final percentages have not always reflected that effort.”

Meanwhile, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola said the green party supported mandatory quotas – up to an even split – but raised questions over how workable the proposal would prove in practice, particularly for smaller parties with a small pool of candidates to draw from.

“Experience has shown that there’s a reluctance for people in general to put themselves forward, but particularly women,” he said, adding that the party had included positive discrimination in its own structures since inception.

Putting forward its proposals on Tuesday, the NCPE said the system could be introduced over a number of years and gradually build up to each gender having 50 per cent of candidates on any given ballot sheet.

The quotas would apply to local council, national Parliament and European Parliament elections.

“A permanent system that ensures gender-balance in political decision-making will spur national institutions, political parties and civil society to become leaders for change,” the Commission said in a statement.

With women representing just 13 per cent of MPs, Malta ranks 108 in the Global Gender Gap Report when it comes to the relative number of women in Parliament. When countries are compared according to their number of female Cabinet members, Malta ranks even lower, at 123.

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