Welsh Government Launches Bill to Introduce Gender Quota in Elections

The coalition government in Wales has published its new bill to introduce gender quotas in elections on Monday after the plan was put on hold last year. If the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill becomes law, at least half of a political party’s candidate list will have to be women, at both the constituency level and national level. However, the future of the bill has already been thrown into doubt after Llywydd (Presiding Officer) Elin Jones MS said she believes the legislative area is reserved for the central government in London. If Ms. Jones is correct, the Senedd can still proceed with passing the bill, but Westminster can seek to block it as it did with Scotland’s plan to allow gender self-ID....