Privy Council of Abyssinia

Privy Council of Abyssinia

logo	The imperial couple in parliament
Basic data
Seat:	Addis Ababa
Legislative period :	four years (from 1955)
First session:	November 1, 1957
MPs:	375 (including 125 in the House of Representatives ) (1973)
Current legislative period
Last choice:	1973
Chair:	Prince of the Solomonic Dynasty Ermias Sahle-Selassie ( independent )
Distribution of seats:	N / A
Website
Page of the Ethiopian Privy Council

The Crown Council of Abyssinia or Ethiopia ( English : Crown Council of Ethiopia ) or today also Crown Council of Abyssinia or Ethiopia was the official parliament from 1931 to 1974, a constitutional body of the Abyssinian Empire and advisory body of the Ethiopian emperor . The parliament was a bicameral parliament and consisted first of the council and a senate and later of the council and the House of Representatives .

history

Parliament came into being after the constitution of 1931 came into force . It consisted of two chambers. Until 1936, the Privy Council consisted only of members selected by the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie . In addition to members of the nobility, the Senate also consisted of ministers and respected veterans, as well as commanders who were recognized for their long service. Both chambers had the same number of members. The legislative period in the Privy Council could last up to 15 to 20 years.

With the beginning of the Abyssinian War and the subsequent occupation of the country by the Kingdom of Italy , the parliament was forcibly dissolved by the Italian occupiers. Most of the members had previously resigned from parliament and went into hiding.

In 1941 the Ethiopian partisans together with Great Britain succeeded in liberating Abyssinia. Parliament was re-established in May 1941 and the old incumbents returned. This did not result in any change in the structure of the previous order. With the drafting of a new constitution in 1955, the House of Representatives was founded and replaced the Senate in its function.

In 1957 the first direct elections in the history of the empire took place. Between 1957 and 1974 there were a total of five direct elections for parliament, whereby the people were initially only allowed to elect members for the House of Representatives and only later also members for the Privy Council. At the end of the first mandate the membership of the Privy Council reached 250 and that of the House of Representatives 125. Members. This structure was largely retained until 1974.

With the coup of the Derg regime in September 1974, the monarchy was abolished in the same year and the Privy Council and its lower house dissolved in 1975. Most of its members, including the last Speaker of Parliament, Prince Asrate Medhin Kassa , were later murdered during the communist dictatorship. Even after the fall of the regime, the abolition of the council was confirmed by the 1995 constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia . The House of Representatives was re-established as the lower house of the Ethiopian Federal House . The Privy Council, which has had its seat in exile in Washington, DC since 1975 , has set itself the task of reestablishing the imperial tradition and advocating a democratic, constitutional state of Ethiopia under a constitutional monarchy . Ermias Sahle-Selassie has been President of the Council since 1983.

literature

• Saheed A. Adekumobi: The History of Ethiopia . Greenwood Press, Westport CT et al. 2007, ISBN 978-0-313-32273-0 .
• Richard Pankhurst: The Ethiopians. A history . Blackwell Publishing, Oxford et al. 2001, ISBN 0-631-22493-9 .
• Kevin Shillington (Ed.): Encyclopedia of African History . Routledge, London 2005, ISBN 1-57958-245-1 .
• Rudolf W. Dietel: Mission Hours . 2nd edition , newly edited by Carl Paul . Book 5: Abyssinia . Ms. Richter, Leipzig 1901, OCLC 180059289 ( gaebler.info ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ electionsethiopia.org: History of the electoral system in Ethiopia , website of the National Electoral Authority of Ethiopia