The Parliament of Namibia is the national legislature of

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. It is a bicameral legislature and, thus, consists of two houses: the National Council (

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

) and the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

( lower house). All cabinet members are also members of the lower house. This situation has been criticised by Namibia's civil society and the opposition as creating a significant overlap between

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

and

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

, undermining the

separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...

. The seniority of cabinet members generally relegate ordinary MPs to the back benches. From Namibian independence until 2014 the National Assembly consisted of 78 members, 72 members elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

and 6 members appointed by the president. The National Council had 26 representatives of the Regional Councils, 2 from each of the then thirteen regions. Prior to the 2014 general elections the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

was amended to increase both chambers to their current size.

Speakers of Parliament

* Hon. Prof. Peter Katjavivi, MP - Speaker of th
National Assembly
* Hon. Prof. Loide Kasingo, MP - Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly

References

External links

* 1990 establishments in Namibia

{{Namibia-gov-stub

Speakers of Parliament

See also

References

External links