National Assembly of the Gambia

The Gambia

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The National Assembly is the legislative branch of government in The Gambia.

Composition and electoral system

The National Assembly is unicameral and consists of 53 members who serve a five-year term. 48 members are directly elected while the remaining five are appointed by the President. Members are elected in single-member constituencies using the simple majority, or First-past-the-post system.

History

Legislative representation based on universal adult suffrage in The Gambia began in May 1962, when elections were held for a 32-seat House of Representatives. These elections were won by the People's Progressive Party (PPP), which was led by Dawda Jawara. After independence in 1965, the PPP continued to dominate the House of Representatives by winning a series of free, democratic elections in 1966, 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, and 1992. While opposition parties were continuously present in the House, they were never able to successfully wrest power from the PPP. Jawara's government was overthrown in a July 1994 military coup led by Yahya Jammeh. The constitution and all elected institutions, including the House of Representatives, were dissolved. After the coup, political party activities were banned. The ban was lifted in August 1996 following the approval of a new constitution, but three Jawara-era parties - the PPP, Gambian People's Party (GPP), and the National Convention Party (NCP) remained proscribed.

Legislative elections to the renamed National Assembly took place on 2 January 1997. Jammeh's Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) won 33 out of 45 seats, the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) won 7, two went to both the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) and Independents, while the People's Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) captured the remaining seat.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) lifted the ban on the PPP, GPP, and NCP in August 2001, five months before the next scheduled legislative election.

2007 election

e • d Summary of the 25 January 2007 National Assembly of the Gambia election results

Parties		Votes	%	Seats	+/-
Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC)		157,392	59.7	42	–3
United Democratic Party (UDP)		57,545	21.8	4	+4 ¹
National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD)	National Democratic Action Movement National Reconciliation Party People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism People's Progressive Party (PPP)	29,773	11.3	1	–2 ²
Independents		18,751	7.1	1	+1
APRC (appointed by the president)				5	0
Total		263,461	100.0	53	—
The UDP boycotted the 2002 elections. The NADD lost in comparison to the combined number of seats of the People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) with two seats and the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) with one seat.

Leadership

• Speaker - Abdoulie Bojang
• Deputy Speaker - ...

The Speaker and Deputy Speaker may only be chosen from among the presidential appointees to the National Assembly, not the elected members.^[1]

See also

• History of the Gambia
• List of national legislatures
• List of Speakers of the National Assembly of the Gambia
• Legislative branch

References

1. ^ Political Parties of the World (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 242.

External links

• National Assembly Services Authority of The Gambia

Coordinates: 13°27′37″N 16°34′53″W / 13.46028°N 16.58139°W / 13.46028; -16.58139