Môžu preferenčné hlasy uľahčiť vstup žien do vrcholovej politiky?
Can preferential votes facilitate women’s entry into top politics?

Summary/Abstract: Political parties’ strategies and outcomes in the 2020 Slovak parliamentary elections in a gender perspective. Slovakia’s proportional electoral system features semi-open lists and one constituency. We study two determinants of women’s long-term underrepresentation in top politics: supply of female candidates by political parties (number of women and their positions on electoral lists) and demand by voters (number of preferential votes for women). In the 2020 elections, we identify three types of candidate lists: gender-sensitive, gender-ambivalent, and masculine. Non-masculine parties’ voters promoted women disproportionately, but their preferential votes did not compensate for women’s low starting positions. As voters’ demand could not override parties’ supply, we conclude that party gatekeepers are responsible for low female political representation.

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