Ethnic quotas and unintended effects on women’s political representation in Singapore

This article examines the effects of ethnic quotas on women’s political representation in Singapore. The 1988 electoral reform requires at least one minority ethnic candidate to be fielded in the multimember constituencies based on the party list plurality bloc vote system. Based on elite interviews, party publications and electoral data, this article argues that the increases in the district magnitude of the multimember constituencies have had …