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 oth ...
of
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
in
Burundi. 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 p ...
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 ...
ethnic group. In addition, three co-opted members represent the
Twa 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
(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 (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 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 ...
of the republic. He took office on 26 August 2005.
See also
*
List of legislatures by country
This is a list of legislatures by country. A "legislature" is the generic name for the national parliaments and congresses that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives and that have the power to legislate. All entities included i ...
*
List of presidents of the National Assembly of Burundi
*
Legislative branch
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
References
External links
*
{{Coord, 3.3598, S, 29.3730, E, source:wikidata, display=title
1962 establishments in Burundi
Government of Burundi
Burundi