Chronicle of Parliamentary Elections 2008 Elections Parliamentary of Chronicle Chronicle of Parliamentary Elections Volume 42
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Couverture_Ang:Mise en page 1 22.04.09 17:27 Page1 Print ISSN: 1994-0963 Electronic ISSN: 1994-098X INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION CHRONICLE OF PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS 2008 CHRONICLE OF PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS VOLUME 42 Published annually in English and French since 1967, the Chronicle of Parliamen tary Elections reports on all national legislative elections held throughout the world during a given year. It includes information on the electoral system, the background and outcome of each election as well as statistics on the results, distribution of votes and distribution of seats according to political group, sex and age. The information contained in the Chronicle can also be found in the IPU’s database on national parliaments, PARLINE. PARLINE is accessible on the IPU web site (http://www.ipu.org) and is continually updated. Inter-Parliamentary Union VOLUME 42 5, chemin du Pommier Case postale 330 CH-1218 Le Grand-Saconnex Geneva – Switzerland Tel.: +41 22 919 41 50 Fax: +41 22 919 41 60 2008 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.ipu.org 2008 Chronicle of Parliamentary Elections VOLUME 42 1 January - 31 December 2008 © Inter-Parliamentary Union 2009 Print ISSN: 1994-0963 Electronic ISSN: 1994-098X Photo credits Front cover: Photo AFP/Pascal Pavani Back cover: Photo AFP/Tugela Ridley Inter-Parliamentary Union Office of the Permanent Observer of 5, chemin du Pommier the IPU to the United Nations Case postale 330 220 East 42nd Street CH-1218 Le Grand-Saconnex Suite 3002 Geneva — Switzerland New York, N.Y. 10017 USA Tel.: + 41 22 919 41 50 Tel.: +1 212 557 58 80 Fax: + 41 22 919 41 60 Fax: +1 212 557 39 54 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.ipu.org/parline Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................4 Angola: National Assembly .......................................................................................7 Austria: Parliament National Council ......................................................................................11 Bangladesh: Parliament .........................................................................................17 Barbados: Parliament of Barbados House of Assembly ...................................................................................22 Belarus: National Assembly House of Representatives .......................................................................26 Belize: National Assembly House of Representatives .......................................................................31 Bhutan: Parliament National Assembly ...................................................................................35 Cambodia: Parliament National Assembly ...................................................................................40 Canada: Parliament of Canada - Parlement du Canada House of Commons ...............................................................................45 Cuba: National Assembly of the People's Power.................................................50 Czech Republic: Parliament Senate ......................................................................................................54 Djibouti: National Assembly.....................................................................................59 Equatorial Guinea: House of Peoples' Representatives ......................................63 Georgia: Parliament ................................................................................................66 Ghana: Parliament ..................................................................................................71 Grenada: Parliament House of Representatives........................................................................75 Guinea-Bissau: People's National Assembly ........................................................79 Iran (Islamic Republic of): Islamic Consultative Assembly .................................84 Italy: Parliament Chamber of Deputies ..............................................................................89 Senate .......................................................................................................95 Kuwait: National Assembly ....................................................................................101 Lithuania: Parliament .............................................................................................105 Malaysia: Parliament House of Representatives......................................................................111 Malta: House of Representatives .........................................................................115 Chronicle 42 - January-December 2008 1 Table of Contents Monaco: National Council....................................................................................120 Mongolia: State Great Hural .................................................................................125 Nauru: Parliament ..................................................................................................130 Nepal: Constituent Assembly ................................................................................134 New Zealand: House of Representatives ............................................................141 Pakistan: Parliament National Assembly..................................................................................147 Palau: National Congress House of Delegates ...............................................................................153 Senate .....................................................................................................157 Paraguay: Congress Chamber of Deputies ............................................................................161 Senate .....................................................................................................166 Republic of Korea: National Assembly.................................................................171 Romania: Parliament of Romania Chamber of Deputies ............................................................................175 Senate .....................................................................................................183 Rwanda: Parliament - Parlement Chamber of Deputies ............................................................................190 San Marino: Great and General Council ............................................................196 Serbia: National Assembly.....................................................................................201 Slovenia: National Assembly..................................................................................206 Spain: The Cortes Congress of Deputies.............................................................................212 Senate .....................................................................................................216 Swaziland: Parliament House of Assembly .................................................................................220 Thailand: National Assembly Senate .....................................................................................................224 The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Assembly of the Republic.......229 Tonga: Legislative Assembly..................................................................................237 Turkmenistan: Assembly.........................................................................................240 United States of America: Congress House of Representatives......................................................................244 Senate .....................................................................................................249 Vanuatu: Parliament ..............................................................................................254 2 Chronicle 42 - January-December 2008 Table of Contents Zimbabwe: Parliament House of Assembly .................................................................................258 Senate .....................................................................................................264 Chronicle 42 - January-December 2008 3 Introduction I am pleased to present this 2008 edition of the Chronicle, which covers direct elections to 53 chambers in 46 countries in 2008. An average of 69.29 per cent of the registered voters turned out at the polls, an annual increase of 3.95 percentage points based on available data. Landmark elections Angola and Nepal held long-awaited elections. Angola’s first elections since 1992 marked a further step in the democratic process after the end of the civil war in 2002, during which some 500,000 people were killed. The elections to the Constituent Assembly in Nepal were the first to be held since 1999. Elections scheduled in 2002 had been postponed several times as a result of the Maoist insurgency and the King’s decision to assume direct power in 2005. The elections led to the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic in Nepal. The elections in Bangladesh and Thailand marked the official termination of their transitional periods. Bangladesh held the first elections since a military-backed caretaker government was installed in October 2006. In Thailand, Senate elections followed the December 2007 elections to the House of Representatives. Bhutan held the first elections involving political parties to the new 47-member National Assembly. They followed elections to the newly-created upper chamber - the