The National Assembly ( ar, الجمعية الوطنية; french: Assemblée Nationale) is 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 ...

legislative house of the Parliament of Mauritania. The legislature currently has 157 members, elected for five-year terms in electoral districts or nationwide proportional lists. From 1961 until 1978, the only legal party in the country was the

Mauritanian People's Party Mauritanian People's Party (PPM, French ''Parti du peuple mauritanien''; Arabic: حزب الشعب الموريتاني ''Hizb Al-Sha'ab Al-Muritaniy'') was the sole legal party of Mauritania from 1961 to 1978. It was headed by President Moktar ...

(french: Parti du Peuple Mauritanien, PPM). The legislature was disbanded after the 10 July 1978 coup. In 1992, a bicameral legislature was established, consisting the National Assembly and Senate of Mauritania. In the 1990s, a multiparty system was introduced in Mauritania. However, the Democratic and Social Republican Party (PRDS) dominated the parliament until a coup in 2005. After the 2008 military coup, the Union for the Republic has been the dominating force of the National Assembly until it was rebranded as the Equity Party (El Insaf) in 2022. On October 9, 2018 Cheikh Ahmed Baye was elected President of the National Assembly.

History

Colonial Mauritania The period from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries is the colonial period in Mauritania. Early relationship with Europe Before the nineteenth century, the European powers in West Africa were interested only in coastal trade; they at ...

After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the

French Union The French Union () was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial empire system, colloquially known as the " French Empire" (). It was the formal end of the "indigenous" () status of French subj ...

was established, granting

Colonial Mauritania The period from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries is the colonial period in Mauritania. Early relationship with Europe Before the nineteenth century, the European powers in West Africa were interested only in coastal trade; they at ...

the right to elect a representative to the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are kn ...

and a local assembly. In 1946 a General Council was elected, composed of 20 members elected through censitary suffrage in two electoral colleges, one for

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

citizens and other for voters with an indigenous status (Mauritanians and nationals of other territories). This council only had a consultative function, debating on local issues and non-political questions. In 1952

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political sta ...

was introduced for the first time, with the creation and

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 operat ...

of a 24-member Territorial Council, also elected through two electoral colleges. This Territorial Council soon evolved into the Territorial Assembly, elected in 1957 without the segregation of voters in two colleges. This Territorial Assembly established the first Mauritanian autonomous government under French administration and declared the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania on 28 November 1958 after a French-backed

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

. The National Assembly was first elected in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

as a

constituent assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

to draft a

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 pr ...

and proclaim the independence of Mauritania from France on 28 November 1960.

Ould Daddah regime

In 1961 this Assembly amended the constitution to change the country's political system from a

parliamentary republic A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). There are a number ...

to a presidential one.

Number of seats

The number of seats in the National Assembly has varied over the years. In 1959 there were 40 seats, increasing to 50 in 1971, 70 in 1975 (with 7 seats temporarily added during the Mauritanian occupation of Western Sahara), 79 in 1992, 81 in 2001, 95 in 2006, 146 in 2013, and 157 in 2018. The number of seats will increase in 2023 to 176 after an an election reform.

Electoral system

The National Assembly is made up of 157 seats that are elected every five years according to a

parallel voting Parallel voting is a type of mixed electoral system in which representatives are voted into a single chamber using two or more different systems, most often first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) with party-list proportional representation (PR). It i ...

system. 117 seats are filled in 47 electoral districts (four being reserved to the Mauritanian diaspora), which may elect from 1 to 4 seats, except Nouakchott, which elects 18. Districts with one or two seats are elected using a two-round single-member majority ballot, while those with three or more are elected using

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 ...

using closed lists. The remaining 40 seats are elected by using

from two lists with 20 candidates each: a national one and a women-only one, guaranteeing a minimum representation for women in the National Assembly. Lists with more than two candidates must alternate between male and female candidates. There is no

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

. On 26 September 2022 all Mauritanian political parties reached an agreement sponsored by the Ministry of Interior and Decentralisation to reform the election system ahead of the upcoming elections after weeks of meetings between all parties. The 176 members (an increase of 17 members compared to

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

) of the National Assembly will be elected by two methods (with Mauritanians being able to cast four different votes in a parallel voting system); 125 are elected from single- or multi-member electoral districts based on the

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

(or ''moughataas'') that the country is subdivided in (which the exception of Nouakchott, which has been divided in three 7-seat constituencies for this election based on the three regions (or ''wilayas'') the city is subdivided in instead of the single 18-seat constituency that was used in

), using either the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

; in single-member constituencies candidates require a majority of the vote to be elected in the first round and a plurality in the second round. In two-seat constituencies, voters vote for a party list (which must contain one man and one woman); if no list receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a second round is held, with the winning party taking both seats. In constituencies with three or more seats,

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

is used, with seats allocated using the

largest remainder method The largest remainder method (also known as Hare–Niemeyer method, Hamilton method or as Vinton's method) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with variou ...

.Electoral system
IPU For three-seat constituencies, party lists must include a female candidate in first or second on the list; for larger constituencies a

zipper system The zipper system, also known as "vertical parity" or the "zebra system", is a type of gender quota for party lists in proportional representation electoral systems. It requires that parties alternate between women and men on their candidate list ...

is used, with alternate male and female candidates. Four seats are elected by the diaspora, with this election being the first time Mauritanians in the diaspora will be able to directly elect their representatives. The remaining 51 seats are elected from three nationwide constituencies, also using closed list proportional representation: a 20-seat national list (which uses a

), a 20-seat women's national list and a new 11-seat youth list (with two reserved for people with special needs), which also uses a zipper system to guarantee the representation of women.

Footnotes

References

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

Government of Mauritania 1959 establishments in Mauritania {{Mauritania-gov-stub

History

Colonial Mauritania The period from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries is the colonial period in Mauritania. Early relationship with Europe Before the nineteenth century, the European powers in West Africa were interested only in coastal trade; they at ...

Ould Daddah regime

Number of seats

Electoral system

See also

Footnotes

References