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Lisbon (dpa) - A new Portuguese equality law stipulates that women must make up one third of all candidates in future Portuguese elections, press reports said on Tuesday.
An equality law, originally vetoed, but which President Anibal Cavaco Silva has now signed, states at least 33.3 per cent of all candidates in parliamentary, local and European elections must be women.
Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates' government brought in the law with the aim of involving more women in politics. Women currently have 21.7 representation in parliament.
In June, Cavaco Silva vetoed the law, which had been adopted by parliament. He said his reasons were that the sanctions for not reaching the female quota were too harsh.
The government had decreed that all electoral lists that did not reach the quota would be excluded from the elections. After the president's veto, the sanctions were made less stringent.
Now parties which violate the quota regulation are threatened with not having their election campaigns costs refunded. Cavaco Silva has accepted this amended version.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
