L’impact du mode de scrutin sur l’élection des femmes à l’Assemblée fédérale

Abstract

This article analyses the effect of the electoral system on the election of women to the Swiss Federal Assembly (1995-2003). The respective literature has often emphasised how important proportional representation is for a better representation of women in parliament. Most contributions to this debate concentrated on the percentage of female deputies. We argue that all candidates and their careers must be considered in order to understand the election of women. We show that, in the Swiss National Council, the women-friendly effect of proportional representation operates not so much during the elections, but already in the process of candidate nomination. This is especially true for centre and right-wing parties.