Did you know that over 400 million people voted to elect their representatives in 2006? That's approximately one in 16 of the estimated world population. This is just one of the facts contained in the Panorama of Parliamentary Elections 2006, an overview of all direct elections to national parliaments held in that year. In total, 8,263 of the world's 43,719 parliamentary seats were renewed in direct elections in 44 countries.
The year 2006 witnessed a number of historic elections in countries emerging from periods of political transition:
- In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first multi-party elections in over 40 years to the National Assembly were held in July. Indirect elections to the Senate took place in January 2007 and the formation of a new government completed the formal transition process and marked an important step on the road to democracy.
- In Mauritania, where the parliament had been dissolved following a military coup in 2005, elections to the National Assembly were held in November, followed by Senate elections in early 2007.
- In Haiti, parliament was re-established after elections to both chambers were held for the first time since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced out of power in 2004.
Voter turnout rose in 12 countries for which comparable statistics are available, but fell in 19 others. The highest increase in voter turnout - more than 25 percentage points, to 88.66 per cent - was recorded in Peru, while turnout in Guyana fell by 20 points. Nine countries recorded voter turnouts of over 80 per cent, including two where voter turnout is traditionally high: the Lao People's Democratic Republic (99.76%) and Singapore (94.01%), where voting is compulsory.
Sweden recorded the largest proportion of women elected (47.3%), followed by Costa Rica (38.6%). Women participated in parliamentary elections in Kuwait for the first time, although none of the 28 female candidates was elected. In the 23 countries that used some form of gender quotas in elections in 2006, an average of 21.7 per cent of those elected were women, nearly double the proportion in countries without any form of gender quota whatsoever (11.8%). Further analysis can be found in the IPU publication Women in parliament in 2006: The year in perspective.
The Panorama of Parliamentary Elections is an annual publication. It can be downloaded or ordered in English, French or Spanish from the IPU website.
