National Assembly (Burkina Faso)

National Assembly (Burkina Faso)

Burkina Faso coat of arms	Parliament building
Basic data
Seat:	Ouagadougou
Legislative period :	five years
First session:	17th June 1992
MPs:	127
Current legislative period
Last choice:	November 29, 2015
Chair:	President, Alassane Bala Sakandé (since 2015)
Website
www.assembleenationale.bf

The National Assembly ( Assemblée Nationale ) is the Parliament in unicameral the West African country Burkina Faso . It is made up of 111 members. After violent protests as a result of an intended constitutional amendment by long-time President Blaise Compaoré , it was dissolved and replaced by a transitional parliament , the National Transitional Council ( Conseil national de la transition ) until the next elections at the end of 2015.

history

Before the independence of the state of Burkina Faso, the territory was a French colony under the name of Upper Volta . Thus, on March 23, 1948, the Conseil Général de la Haute-Volta was set up as the first parliament . This institution existed for ten years, for two legislative terms, and was finally renamed Assemblée constituante et législative (Constituent and Legislative Assembly) in 1958 in preparation for the expected independence of the area .

This was followed by independence on August 5, 1960, and the establishment of the First Republic with the Assemblée National representing the people. Since then, the work of parliament has been interrupted three times by coups , but has been resumed again and again. The fourth National Assembly met in the Fourth Republic of Burkina-Faso until 2014.

In the meantime, from 1995 to 2002 it was the lower house in a two-chamber system , since the abolition of the upper house it has been the only chamber. This was formally reversed with a constitutional amendment on June 11, 2012, but has not yet been implemented.

Parliament building

National Assembly building until 2015 (set on fire in 2015)

The parliament has its seat in the capital Ouagadougou . It is located in the Koulouba district , where the former presidential palace and some embassies as well as numerous administrative buildings are located. The distance to the nearby international airport is around 1.5 kilometers.

After protests about a planned constitutional amendment by the then President, which should lift the term limit and give the office more rights, the building of the National Assembly was stormed before the decisive vote by supporters of the opposition parties, who called for demonstrations around the National Assembly, and then set on fire .

Proposals for the further use of the building range from renovation and reuse as a parliament building to the construction of a museum to commemorate the uprising.

organization

As is customary in many parliaments, the elected members of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso do not organize themselves into parties, but into parliamentary groups . The large parties form their own parliamentary groups, the representatives of the small parties either join an existing parliamentary group or together form their own, which must meet the minimum requirements of ten members.

elections

→ Main article : Parliamentary election in Burkina Faso 2012

The parliamentary groups in the National Assembly of Burkina Faso after the parliamentary elections in 2012

In the last democratic elections, which took place on December 2, 2012, 127 representatives were elected. In the previous legislative period there were 111 members in parliament.

More than 3000 candidates applied for the seats to be allocated. In the wake of the parliamentary elections in 2012, five political groups were formed. As the graphic opposite shows, the formation of factions had no influence on the actual balance of power and the dominance of the CDP , which remained the strongest force until its dissolution.

The last parliamentary election so far took place on November 29, 2015 .

Legislation and Chairmanship

Since the country gained independence, the National Assembly has served eight legislative terms. In the meantime, their work was interrupted by coups , but order was always restored.

No.	republic	Legislature	president	Term of office	Political party	Remarks
1	First republic		Begnon-Damien Kone	1960-1965	RDA	Putsch on January 3, 1966
2	Second republic		Joseph Ouedrago	November 1970 – October 1974	RDA	Coup on February 8, 1974
3	Third Republic		Gérard K. Ouedrago	1978 - November 1980	RDA	Putsch on November 25, 1980
4th	Fourth republic	1st legislative period	Bognessan Arsène Yé	June 1992 - June 1997	CDP	End of the legislature
5		2nd legislative period	Mélégué Maurice Traoré	June 1997 - June 2002	CDP	End of the legislature
6th		3rd legislative period	Roch Marc Kaboré	June 2002 - June 2007	CDP	End of the legislature
7th		4th legislative period	Roch Marc Kaboré	June 2007 - June 2012	CDP	End of the legislature
8th		5th legislative period	Soungalo Ouattara	June 2012 - October 2014	CDP	Dissolution of parliament
9		Transitional parliament
10		7th legislative term	Alassane Bala Sakandé	November 29, 2015 to date	MPP
Source: National Assembly website ( history )

Transitional parliament

Following the dissolution of parliament, the ousting of the president and the dismissal of the government, the military took power on October 1 under the guard officer Isaac Zida to restore public order. He temporarily suspended the constitution and signed a transitional charter on November 16, which set parliamentary and presidential elections for October 11, 2015. The diplomat Michel Kafando was appointed transitional president and the cornerstone for a transitional parliament, the National Transitional Council ( Conseil national de la transition ) was laid.

This parliament met for the first time on November 27, 2014 and is composed of 90 members. The seats were distributed among the various parts of public and political life. The political parties have a total of 40 seats, 10 of which go to the former ruling party, Congrès pour la démocratie et le progrès of long-time President Blaise Compaoré, and 30 to the opposition parties. In addition, 25 seats go to civil society and 25 to the military . The management is incumbent on the elected by the MPs President Moumina Chériff Sy , who comes as a writer and journalist from the camp of civil society.

The assembly is currently not meeting in the premises of the National Assembly, but in the hotel of the deputies ( l'hôtel du député ) about two kilometers away . At the end of July 2015 it became known that the MPs were planning a constitutional amendment which would limit the term of office of future presidents to a maximum of 10 years in order to avoid a repetition of the current situation. The population will be asked about it in a referendum .

Web links

• Official website
• Transitional Parliament website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Constitution of Burkina Faso , valid until 2014, accessed August 2015.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Historique , National Assembly website, accessed August 2015.
3. ^ Bureau AN , National Assembly website, accessed December 30, 2018.
4. ↑ Protesters set fire to parliament in Ouagadougou , Zeit-Online article from October 30, 2014, accessed in August 2015.
5. ↑ Information on the National Assembly , website of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, accessed August 2015.
6. ^ Contact , National Assembly website, accessed August 2015.
7. ↑ Protesters set fire to parliament in Ouagadougou , Zeit website, accessed August 2015.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Burkina Faso: initiative pour transformer l'ancien parlement en musée , website of Jeune Afrique, accessed in August 2015.
9. ↑ Overview of the parliamentary organization of Burkina Faso on the website of the Assemblée parlementaire de la francophonie ( French )
10. ↑ Burkina Faso Awaits Election Results , Voice of America website, Retrieved August 2015.
11. ↑ KONE Begnon-Damien , Senate of the French Republic, Accessed in August, 2015.
12. ↑ Présidentielle 2015 , website of the news magazine lefaso.net, accessed August 2015.
13. ^ A dignified transition , TAZ.de website, accessed in August 2015.
14. ↑ Organization de la société civil  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Transitional Parliament website, accessed August 2015.  
15. ↑ Parliament in Burkina Faso wants to limit the presidential term of office , Zeit-Online website, accessed in August 2015.