The

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

National Assembly is

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana t ...

legislative 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 ...

body. In 1995, it became the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, 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 co ...

of a

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single gr ...

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 ...

, but the

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 ...

( Chamber of Representatives) was abolished in 2002. The upper house was to have been restored under the name "

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

" in the June 2012 constitutional amendments. This revision was never executed due to an extended and unresolved political confrontation over the Senate's establishment, which left the country effectively with a unicameral legislature as of the October 2014 constitutional crisis. On 30 October 2014, as part of the

2014 Burkinabé uprising The 2014 Burkina Faso uprising was a series of demonstrations and riots in Burkina Faso in October 2014 that quickly spread to multiple cities. They began in response to attempts at changing the constitution to allow President Blaise Compaoré ...

, protesters stormed the parliament building and set fire to it, in anger at the Parliament's decision to amend the

Constitution of Burkina Faso The Constitution of Burkina Faso was approved by referendum on 2 June 1991, formally adopted 11 June 1991 and last amended in January 2002. The last amendment abolished the upper chamber of the parliament, the Chamber of Representatives. In 2 ...

to abolish term limits, which would have effectively paved the way for

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 ...

Blaise Compaoré Blaise Compaoré (born 3 February 1951)''Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders'' (2003), page 76–77.

to remain in office for another five-year term. On 24 January 2022, during the January 2022 Burkinabé coup d'état, President Kaboré was detained and deposed by the military. After the announcement, the military declared that the parliament and government had been dissolved. In its place a transitional legislative assembly was sworn in on 22 March 2022. It was also dissolved on 30 September 2022 after a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

against interim President

Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba (; born January 1981) is a Burkinabé military officer who served as interim president of Burkina Faso from 31 January 2022 to 30 September 2022, when he was removed in a coup d'état, by his own military colleague Ibr ...

Electing the National Assembly

Burkina Faso is divided into 45 electoral provinces within their 13 regions. Each province elects between two and nine representatives, and these representatives are members of political parties. There are 111 members of the National Assembly elected to represent provinces, and 16 nationally elected, totaling 127. In Burkina Faso, the National Assembly is elected by a proportional representational system. Proportional representation in Burkina Faso means that each person marks one party on the ballot, and after tallying the votes, the top parties chosen are elected to the Assembly. Each electoral province has a simple electoral quotient. This is the number of valid votes counted divided by the number of seats available. If a party wins a seat by the electoral quotient, usually half of the votes, then the remainder of the seats are transferred to a "rest" category, which are compared to the other votes gathered. For example, in the province of Boulkiemde, the MPP received 29,445 votes, which is 35.1% of the total votes of the province. Boulkiemde elects four representatives to their legislature, so their electoral quotient is 21002 votes (84007÷4). This means that the MPP will receive one seat from the electoral quotient. The remaining votes are transferred to another category, which is compared among the other candidates. These remaining votes in Boulkiemde won the MPP another seat in the legislature, since the remaining votes (8443) are the second highest compared to the rest of the parties (CDP=16968, UPC=8099). Thus, since the MPP received 35.1% of the votes, they received 50% of the seats due to the electoral quotient. Elections are led by teachers in Burkina Faso, who are not allowed to be a member of any political party. The ballot has a name, acronym, or symbol of the party and a space for voters to mark. The ballots are placed in envelopes, and then placed in ballot boxes. The leader of the election officials ensures that the seal is not broken before counting all of the votes. The teachers who are trained as election officials become counting officials. Invalid ballots include those that have no marks, more than one mark, or ballots not in an envelope. The ballots are sent to the district level after counting them, where the winner of a legislative seat will be determined based on the number of votes. The districts are divided by one seat per 100,000 people, so the capital, Ouagadougou, has nine seats.

2015 National Assembly elections

In the 2015 parliamentary election, the People's Movement for Progress party received 51.3% of the national vote, winning 55 seats. The Union for Progress and Change, or UPC, received 20.5% of the vote, which won them 33 seats. The Congress for Democracy and Progress party won 18 seats with 13.2% of the vote, and the New Alliance of Faso party received two seats, with 4.1% of the vote.

Results by electoral province: 111 seats

National results: 16 seats

References

External links

Assemblée Nationale du Burkina Faso
(no website exists under .bf subdomain) {{Authority control Government of Burkina Faso Politics of Burkina Faso