According to the initial results of this week’s legislative elections in Rwanda, women won more than 50 per cent of seats in parliament. “The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) welcomes this historical result. For the first time an elected national parliament has a majority of women”, said the IPU Secretary General, Mr. Anders B. Johnsson. Official results will be available next week.
Women are poised to garner at least 44 of the 80-seat Chamber of Deputies - or 55 per cent of the seats - making it a world record. This is an improvement over the previous record set by Rwanda in its 2003 elections in which women won 48 per cent on the seats. The number could climb still if women make further gains in the three seats for representatives of youth and disabled persons.
With this result, Rwanda consolidates its position as the world leader in terms of women parliamentary representatives. It is followed by the parliaments of Sweden (47%), Cuba (43.2%), Finland (41.5%), and Argentina (40%). Further information on the representation of women across all national parliaments is available on the IPU website.
For more detailed information on results of elections, please consult IPU’s Parline database.
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