In the context of the Arab Spring wave 10 years ago, Algeria approved a package of political reforms, the most prominent of which was the electoral quota system, or what is known as positive discrimination.

The 2012 law mandated the compulsory representation of women in parliament and locally elected councils within the limits of at least one-third, regardless of their ranking on the candidate lists.

The government said at the time that the law "aims to enhance the participation of women and to achieve the principle of equality in the field of political participation between women and men, embodying the requirements of the state of right and law."

Then the amended law for the 2016 elections retained the same electoral obligation, despite its criticism, to the extent that the media and political circles described the 2012 parliament as a “shaving parliament” after most of the parties found themselves in the dilemma of legal restriction, forcing them to nominate women without political qualifications.

However, the "quota system" (the quota system for women), despite its disadvantages, allowed Algeria to lead the international ranking in the Arab world, in terms of female representation in parliament in 2014, with a rate of 31.6%.

Algeria surpassed the global average for women in elected councils, which is estimated at 22%, as the legislative institution at the time counted 145 members, without counting the National Assembly as the supreme chamber of Parliament.

What is striking today, among the most prominent amendments to the new election law issued recently by a presidential order in the absence of parliament, is that it drops the mandatory quota, contenting itself with the requirement of parity in nomination, so that the final choice remains with the voter alone.

The amendment was relatively welcomed, as political formations saw it as a correction of the mistake of the Bouteflika era (relative to former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika), who was looking for international lights and testimonies of human rights organizations.

For their part, other parties criticized the new option, considering it a reversal of the gains of the feminist struggle in the country.

Expectations are for a decline in the representation of women in the next Algerian parliament, after its Arab leadership years ago (Al-Jazeera)

Positive discrimination

In societal reactions, Nadia Labidi Sharabi, a member of the dissolved parliament, sees women as unequal with men in the country, as elsewhere, despite the clear progress that has been made.

Therefore, she stressed that "it is not possible to correct the state of inequality except through another inequality, through the so-called positive discrimination", that is, the preference for women by securing a part of the seats for them, and if parity is possible.

The former Minister of Culture said, "There is an argument that there is no differentiation between men and women in isolation from competence. It is a beautiful sentence, but it is incorrect because it in fact leads to inequality-making and discrimination against women."

She added in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that "if there are fewer women, it is not because of their inefficiency, but rather it is due to a thousand other known reasons," including prejudice and monopolization of political activity and family responsibilities.

She considered that the quota system had positive and beneficial results, as it specifically allowed the discovery of special women, and thus reduced the prejudices of society and led to an improvement in the level of equality between men and women.

Sharabi: The muhassasa system fights social prejudice and positive discrimination is the solution (Al-Jazeera)

The failure of the quota system

On the other hand, Samia Khamri, a former parliamentarian, asserted that quotas for the benefit of women represent an assault on the voter's right and on the people's sovereignty guaranteed by the constitution.

She said that this method has failed to be applied in developed countries that deal with women as if they are people with special needs, without regard to the criteria of ability, competence, opportunity and initiative, which make her a positive and effective individual, away from the stereotype that they wanted to be.

She explained - in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net - that the authority can apply quotas in appointments to executive institutions, as its authority extends, such as ministries and public administrations, until it contributes in a constitutional and legal manner to public life.

And she expected that the representation of women would be affected numerically in the upcoming Legislative Council, but without changing their qualitative and qualitative representation.

Khamri: The authority can apply quotas in appointments to executive institutions such as ministries and public administrations (Al-Jazeera)

A new vision

For her part, Ateqa Harishan, president of the Houria Women’s Association, believes that the quota system has allowed an increase in the percentage of women’s representation in nationally and locally elected councils, and the emergence of qualified women in political work.

However, imposing this system - without working to raise awareness among women in themselves of the importance of their participation in political life out of conviction, as well as not changing the mentalities of many political and social actors - reduced its effectiveness in improving the reality of women's political participation, says Harishan.

She emphasized in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that the representation of women, who are the majority holders in society, requires a new vision that emerges from the transition to sustainability, based on qualification, equal opportunities, competence, integrity of voting and changing the societal environment.

And she considered that the reality will not change by imposing electoral laws and regulations without establishing training programs to qualify women and empower them with the tools of political action, and to work on the correct social upbringing of young people, with the importance of women's participation in public affairs.

Given the reality of the societal environment, the application of the new law will lead to a decrease in the chances of women in parliament, because electoral behavior will vote for men, including women who do not choose their gender, according to Harishan's expectations.

Hantabli: The new law makes women's participation in parliament a political entitlement and not a reward for their gender (Al-Jazeera)

The nature of the poll

In his explanation of the removal of the quota system, Youssef Hantabli, a professor of political sociology at the University of Algiers, considers the issue to be related to the nature of voting on the lists and its relationship to parties.

He said that the old electoral system adopted closed lists with the presence of political parties loyal to the Bouteflika regime, which necessitated them - for considerations related to the promotion of women and their participation in political work - to have a significant representation in the elected councils.

Now, there are open lists, where certain personalities are elected to parliament, and not according to the quota system, as the voter will vote on his favorite list provided by the parties and independents, and he has the freedom to arrange the candidates within it, as Hantabli explains.

The new law also reflects the socio-cultural dimension that makes women's participation an indication of the extent of their awareness and ability to persuade, and not a burden to take advantage of the seat related to their gender, and it previously led to disasters in the nature and quality of female candidates for Parliament, as he put it.