Elections to the

Sahrawi National Council The Sahrawi National Council (SNC; , ) or Sahrawi Parliament is the legislature of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Its structure and competences are guided by the Constitution of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The present sp ...

were held between 17 and 19 February 2008. More than 126 candidates competed for the 53 seats in the Council, the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

of the partially recognized

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also known as the Sahrawi Republic and Western Sahara, is a partially recognized state in the western Maghreb, which claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, but controls only ...

. The Council was elected for a period of three years. The elections were only held in the Free Zone of Western Sahara and in Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, the rest of Western Sahara being under the ''de facto'' administration of

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. As stipulated in the Sahrawi constitution, the renewal of the Council occurred after the previous Council was dissolved following the 12th Congress of the

Polisario Front The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Spanish language, Spanish: ; ), better known by its acronym Polisario Front, is a Sahrawi nationalism, Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to end the occupatio ...

, which took place two months earlier between 14 and 21 December 2007. First-time MPs represented 61.53% of those elected. The percentage of young people in the new Council stood at 57.67%, while women gained 34.61% of seats, thanks in part to a quota system.

Mahfoud Ali Beiba Mahfoud Ali Beiba Hammad Dueihi (; 1953 – July 2, 2010) was a Sahrawis, Sahrawi politician and co-founder of the Polisario Front, a national liberation movement that seeks self-determination for Western Sahara. From 1975 until his death, ...

was reelected

Speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

of the Council on 27 February 2008.

References

Elections in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Sahrawi Sahrawi

Legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

{{WesternSahara-stub