When parliament convenes next month, 22 of the 79 members will be women, nearly a third of MPs and a historically huge proportion. But more than half secured their seats through a gender quota mechanism that the Malta Women’s Lobby has said was “manipulated”. The criticism followed a decision by PN candidate Janice Chetcuti to drop out of a casual election knowing she would make it to parliament through the quota mechanism – Carm Mifsud Bonnici was elected on her district instead. The mechanism is also being challenged in court by ADPD, which says it specifically excludes third parties and independents. Most notably, ADPD candidate Sandra Gauci obtained more votes than a PL candidate who got into parliament through the mechanism. But according to Carmen Sammut, who chaired the technical committee behind the reform, most of the criticism stems from lack of awareness about Malta’s electoral system. She said several gender-balancing mechanisms abroad – such as having a fixed percentage of female candidates on the party’s ballot list – would not work here. How could a party stop a valid male candidate from contesting the election to retain the quota, she asked. on the other hand,...