Items filtered by date: Monday, 21 August 2017

The Parliament of Botswana consists of the President and the National Assembly.^[1] In contrast to other Parliamentary systems, the Parliament elects the President directly (instead of having both a ceremonial President and a Prime Minister who has real authority as head of government) for a set five-year term of office. There are no term limits. The President is both head of State and of Government in Botswana's parliamentary republican system. The current President of Botswana is Ian Khama, who assumed the Presidency on 1 April 2008 and won a full five-year term in the postceding Botswana General elections, which were held on 16 October 2009 and returned his Botswana Democratic Party with a majority of 35 (total of 45) seats in the 61 seat Parliament.

There also exists a body known as Ntlo ya Dikgosi, (The House of Chiefs), which is an advisory body that does not form part of the Parliament.

Botswana is one of the two only nations on the African continent since the end of colonial rule to have achieved a clean record of free and fair elections since independence, having held 10 elections since 1966 without any serious incidents of corruption. The other is Mauritius.

The National Assembly is the legislature Botswana's unicameral Parliament. It is advised by the Ntlo ya Dikgosi (Tswana for "House of Chiefs"), which is not a house of Parliament.

The current National Assembly, formed following elections held on 16 October 2009, has a total of 63 members. 57 members are directly elected in single-member constituencies using the simple majority (or First-past-the-post) system for a term of five years. Four members are co-opted (by secret ballot of the rest of the Assembly) while the remaining two (the President and Attorney-general) are ex officio.

Previous National Assembly election results

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Botswana

http://www.parlamento.ao

The National Assembly (Portuguese: Assembleia Nacional) is the legislative branch of the government of Angola. The National Assembly is a unicameral body, with 220 members: 130 members elected by proportional representation and 90 members elected by provincial districts.

The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has held a majority in the Assembly since independence. Due to the Angolan Civil War, elections were delayed for years until they were eventually held in September 2008. The most recent election was held in 2012, after a new constitution was adopted in 2010, increasing considerably the power of the President, and diminishing that of the National Assembly as well as that of the judiciary.

Jurisdiction

The Angolan government is composed of three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. The executive branch of the government is composed of the President, the Vice-Presidents and the Council of Ministers. The legislative branch comprises a 220-seat unicameral legislature elected from both provincial and nationwide constituencies. On account of civil wars from independence, political power has been concentrated in the presidency. There are various temporary and permanent committees in the Assembly that help in the operational and administrative functions of the Assembly.^[1]

Selection of members

The Unicameral Parliament of Angola was scheduled was originally constituted with 229 elected members.^[2] for a period of three years after the elections. All Angolan citizens with 18 years of age were eligible to cast their vote. Citizens who were members of factional groups, had criminal record and who had not rehabilitated were barred from exercising their voting rights. The representatives of the provincial assemblies formed a college and they elected the representatives of the House of Parliament. The candidates were expected to be answerable to the citizens in public meetings, with their candidature approved by a majority in the province where they were getting nominated. A constitutional amendment on 19 August 1980 indicated that the Council formed during interim would be replaced by a national people's assembly and there would be 18 elected assemblies.^[2]

Premises

The original building of the National Assembly from 1980, also called People's assembly was located in Estúdio/Restauração Cinema in urban district of Ingombota. The new building inaugurated on 9 November 2015 was initiated on 15 October 2009, while the construction started on 17 May 2010. It is a part of the Political Administrative Centre covering an area of 72,000 Sq.m and a built area of 54,000 sq.m. The Centre accommodates Presidential Palace, the Palace of Justice, the Defence Ministry, Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the Episcopal Palace and the premises of the former National Assembly headquarters. The New Assembly has 4,600 seats overall with 1,200 in meeting rooms. The compound has four blocks each with six floors, a basement parking that can accommodate 494 vehicles, out of which 34 is reserved for VIPs. The construction was carried out by Portuguese company Teixeira Duarte under the supervision of Special Works Office of the Government of Angola. The building was inaugurated by José Eduardo dos Santos on 10 November 2015.^[3]

Performance of political parties

Jose Eduardo dos Santos won the 1980 and 1986 elections and became the first elected President of the country. At the time, the country was a one-party state, with the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola - Party of Labour (MPLA-PT) as the sole legal party.^[4] As a result, most candidates were members of the party, and two-thirds were re-nominated from 1980 elections in the 1986 elections. The civil war continued with UNITA fighting against the MLPA, with both parties taking international support. There was a cease-fire agreement during 1989, with the leader of UNITA, Jonas Savimbi, but it collapsed soon. As a part of its peace efforts, MLPA dropped its theme of Marxism–Leninism and moved over to socialism. During May 1991, Dos Santos and Savimbi signed a multiparty democracy agreement in Lisbon.^[5][6] Dos Santos won the 1992, 2008 and 2012 elections as well in the Presidency elections, but different parties started performing. During the 1992 elections, when the first multi-party elections were held, UNITA secured 34.1 per cent vote in the assembly and won 70 seats. But during the 2008 and 2012, their win was reduced to 16 and 32 seats respectively, while the ruling MPLA won 191 and 175 seats respectively.^[7][8]

Presidents of the National Assembly of Angola

Presidents (Speakers) of the People's Assembly of Angola

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Assembly_(Angola)

The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) was established in 1997 in accordance with Article 9 (2) of the SADC Treaty as an autonomous institution of SADC It is a regional inter-parliamentary body composed of fifteen (15) parliaments representing over 3500 parliamentarians in the SADC region. These member parliaments are Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Forum seeks to bring regional experiences to bear at the national level, to promote best practices in the role of parliaments in regional cooperation and integration as outlined in the SADC Treaty and the Forum Constitution. Its main aim is to provide a platform for parliaments and parliamentarians to promote and improve regional integration in the SADC region, through parliamentary involvement.

The objectives of the Forum address a wide range of issues, including but not limited to:

1. Promotion of human rights, gender equality, good governance, democracy and transparency;
2. Promotion of peace, security and stability;
3. Hastening the pace of economic cooperation, development and integration on the basis of equity and mutual benefits;
4. Facilitating networking with other inter-parliamentary organizations;
5. Promoting the participation of non-governmental organisations, business and intellectual communities in SADC activities;
6. Familiarising the peoples of SADC with the aims and objectives of SADC; and
7. Informing SADC of the popular views on development and issues affecting the region.

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