National Assembly المجلس الوطني البحريني | |
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Type | |
Type | |
Houses | Consultative Council Council of Representatives |
Leadership | |
Chairman of the Consultative Council | Salim bin Rashid Al-Khalifa since 15 December 2008 |
Fatima bint Sulaiman Al-Khalifa since 12 December 2018 | |
Structure | |
Seats | 80 40 in the Consultative Council 40 Representatives |
Consultative Council political groups | Independent (40) |
Council of Representatives political groups | Independent (37) Al Asalah (2) |
Elections | |
Appointed by the King | |
Two-round system | |
Council of Representatives last election | 22 November 2018 |
Meeting place | |
Manama | |
Website | |
www |
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Judiciary |
Administrative divisions (governorates) |
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The National Assembly (Arabic: المجلس الوطني البحريني) is the name of both chambers of the Bahraini[1][2] parliament when sitting in joint session, as laid out in the Constitution of 2002.
It has 80 seats formed from the 40 elected members of the Council of Representatives (the lower house) and the 40 royally-appointed members of the Consultative Council (the upper house).
It is chaired by the Speaker of the Council of Representatives, or by the Speaker of the Consultative Council if the former is absent.[3]
Main article: 2018 Bahraini general election |
Under the 1973 Constitution (Article 43), the National Assembly was a single chamber parliament consisting of forty members elected by "universal suffrage". However, the then Amir, Shaikh Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah decreed that women would not be considered as "universal suffrage" and were not allowed to vote in the 1973 parliamentary elections.[4]
Main article: Bahraini parliamentary election, 1973 |
The first ever National Assembly in Bahrain was elected in 1973 under the statutes of the first constitution which was promulgated of that same year. In 1975, the Assembly was dissolved by the then Emir Shaikh Isa ibn Salman al-Khalifa because it refused to pass the government sponsored State Security Law of 1974. The Emir subsequently did not allow the Assembly to meet again or hold elections during his lifetime.
After the death of Isa ibn Salman al-Khalifa in 1999, his son Shaikh Hamad ibn Isa al-Khalifah, the new ruler of Bahrain promulgated the Constitution of 2002. That same year elections were held for the Council of Representatives and he appointed the members for the Consultative Council, forming the first National Assembly since 1975.