spain saw a slight increase from women in parliament in to in a year after the introduction in the general election regime law of compulsory requirement of balanced presence of women and men minimum per cent of each sex in candidate lists gender equality mechanisms within election management bodies electoral management bodies embs can play an instrumental role in promoting women s political participation as they oversee and organise the electoral process which includes candidate registration and voter outreach and education among others in fact none of the respondents indicated that their election bodies had appointed gender advisors or focal points included gender considerations in emb operational procedures or policies or emphasised gender balance in the composition of embs including among commissioners andor polling station officials