National Assembly of the Gambia
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{{Politics of Gambia}}
The '''National Assembly''' is the [[legislative branch]] of government in [[The Gambia]].
== Composition and electoral system==
The National Assembly is [[unicameral]] and consists of 53 members who serve a five-year term. 48 members are directly elected while the remaining five are appointed by the [[Heads of State of The Gambia|President]]. Members are elected in single-member constituencies using the simple majority, or [[First-past-the-post]] system.
== History ==
Legislative representation based on [[Universal suffrage|universal adult suffrage]] in The Gambia began in May [[1962]], when elections were held for a 32-seat House of Representatives. These elections were won by the [[People's Progressive Party (The Gambia)|People's Progressive Party]] (PPP), which was led by [[Dawda Jawara]]. After independence in [[1965]], the PPP continued to dominate the House of Representatives by winning a series of free, democratic elections in [[1966]], [[1972]], [[1977]], [[1982]], [[1987]], and [[1992]]. While opposition parties were continuously present in the House, they were never able to successfully wrest the PPP from power. Jawara's government was overthrown in a [[1994]] [[military coup]] led by [[Yahya Jammeh]]. The constitution and all elected institutions, including the House of Representatives, were dissolved. After the coup, political party activities were banned. The ban was lifted in August [[1996]] following the approval of a new constitution, but three Jawara-era parties - the PPP, [[Gambian People's Party]] (GPP), and the [[National Convention Party (Gambia)|National Convention Party]] (NCP) remained proscribed.
Legislative elections to the renamed National Assembly took place on [[2 January]] [[1997]]. Jammeh's [[Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction]] (APRC) won 33 out of 45 seats, the opposition [[United Democratic Party (Gambia)|United Democratic Party]] (UDP) won 7, two went to both the [[National Reconciliation Party]] (NRP) and [[Independent (politician)|Independents]], while the [[People's Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism]] (PDOIS) captured the remaining seat.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) lifted the ban on the PPP, GPP, and NCP in August [[2001]], five months before the next scheduled legislative election.
== 2007 election ==
{{Gambian parliamentary election, 2007}}
== Leadership ==
* [[Speaker (politics)|Speaker]] - [[Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay]]
* Deputy Speaker - [[Abdoulie Bojang]]
== See also ==
* [[History of the Gambia]]
* [[List of national legislatures]]
* [[Legislative branch]]
== External links ==
* [http://www.nationalassembly.gm/ National Assembly Services Authority of The Gambia]
{{Africa legislatures}}
[[Category:Government of The Gambia]]
[[Category:Politics of The Gambia]]
[[Category:National legislatures|Gambia, The]]