The National Assembly is the

lower chamber A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or othe ...

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

. It consists of 100 directly elected members (or deputies) and between 18 and 23 co-opted members who serve five-year terms. Deputies are elected in 17 multi-member

constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

using a

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...

system in accordance with the

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...

. Political parties and lists of independent candidates must receive over 2% of the vote nationally to gain representation in the National Assembly.

History

As a country that has been devastated by

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and persistent ethnic violence since its independence in 1962, Burundi's new constitution (approved in a February 2005 referendum) requires that 60% of the deputies be from the

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

ethnic group, while the remaining 40% come from the

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic grou ...

ethnic group. In addition, three co-opted members represent the

Twa Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

ethnic group. Women must occupy at least 30% of the seats in the National Assembly.

Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

s to the National Assembly took place on 4 July 2005. The

National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of ...

(CNDD-FDD) won 59 of the 100 seats filled through direct election. The

Front for Democracy in Burundi The Front for Democracy in Burundi (french: link=no, Front pour la Démocratie au Burundi, FRODEBU) is a Hutu progressive political party in Burundi. History It was formed by followers of Melchior Ndadaye from the disbanded Burundi Workers' ...

(FRODEBU), who won a majority of seats in the previous

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

held in 1993, won 25 seats. The

Union for National Progress The Union for National Progress (french: Union pour le Progrès national, UPRONA) is a nationalist political party in Burundi. It initially emerged as a nationalist united front in opposition to Belgian colonial rule but subsequently became an i ...

(UPRONA) won 10, while the

National Council for the Defense of Democracy The National Council for the Defense of Democracy (, CNDD) is a political party in Burundi. History The CNDD was established in Zaire on 24 September 1994 and was initially led by Léonard Nyangoma. The party also established an armed wing, the ...

(CNDD), a breakaway faction of the CNDD-FDD, won 4. The small, predominantly Tutsi Movement for the Rehabilitation of Citizens-Rurenzangemero (MRC-Rurenzangemero), won the remaining 2 seats. An additional 18 members were co-opted to meet the required ethnic and gender

quota Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a trade restriction on the quantity of goods imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * Indi ...

s. Immaculée Nahayo, an ethnic Hutu member of the CNDD-FDD, was elected president of the National Assembly on 16 August 2005. On 19 August 2005, the National Assembly and Senate Assembly (acting as an Electoral College) elected

Pierre Nkurunziza Pierre Nkurunziza (18 December 19648 June 2020) was a Burundian politician who served as the ninth president of Burundi for almost 15 years from August 2005 until his death in June 2020. A member of the Hutu ethnic group, Nkurunziza taught ph ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the republic. He took office on 26 August 2005.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 3.3598, S, 29.3730, E, source:wikidata, display=title 1962 establishments in Burundi Government of Burundi

History

See also

References

External links