14. The said law guarantees the principle of quotas for all lists of candidates for legislative and local elections. The quotas range between 20% and 50% for women’s representation in elections for the National People’s Assembly and between 30% and 35% for Communal People’s Assemblies and the People’s Assembly of the Wilaya. 15. Moreover, the new Organic Law No. 12-04 of 12 January 2012 on political parties includes provisions which have contributed to promoting women’s representation and activism in political parties. To this end, Articles 17, 24 and 41 of the law provide that: Art. 17: “the founding members (of political parties) shall include a representative proportion of women”. Art. 24: “the number of participants at a congress shall include a representative proportion of women”. Art. 41: “Each political party shall have a proportion of women in party leadership positions”. 16. Article 11 of Organic Law No. 12-04 of 12 January 2012 on political parties also stipulates that political parties shall have the task of “promoting the political rights of women”. 17. At a practical level, this measure was recently confirmed by the opening of political party institutions to women and women’s participation, in large numbers, in the legislative elections of 10 May 2012. As such, women obtained 146 seats out of the 462 seats in the National People’s Assembly, representing 31.60%. It should be noted that with this percentage, Algeria is ranked the 28th country in the world in terms of women’s representation in national parliaments (lower house) by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, of which Algeria is a member1, whereas the country was ranked the 121st country prior to the legislative elections of 10 May 2012; thus gaining 93 places. As a result of the promulgation of this law, Algeria is now: The 1st Arab country, in a region where the average percentage is 14.9%; and The 9th African country, on a continent where the average percentage is 20.8%. 18. It should also be noted that women are now represented in several sectors of Algerian society, including the justice, health, education and higher education sectors. Recommendation No. 4: “Take concrete measures to give effect to the provisions of the African Charter and promulgate laws based on respect for the provisions of the African Charter in general and the freedom of religion in particular” 19. Algeria began, since early 2011, a broad programme of political reforms, one of the main areas of which was the amendment of old laws and the promulgation of new laws governing the exercise of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in particular civil and political rights. These laws include: Organic Law No. 12-01 of 12 January 2012 on the electoral system; Organic Law No. 12-02 of 12 January 2012 establishing cases of incompatibility with the office of Member of Parliament; Organic Law No. 12-03 of 12 January 2012 establishing the procedure for increasing women’s opportunities for access to representation in elected assemblies; Organic Law No. 12-04 of 12 January 2012 on political parties; Organic Law No. 12-05 of 12 January 2012 on information; and Law No. 12-06 of 12 January 2012 on associations. 1 Situation as at 31 October 2012 7