Council of Representatives of Bahrain

Bahrain

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Bahrain

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The Council of Representatives (Majlis an-nuwab), sometimes translated as the "Chamber of Deputies", is the name given to the lower house of the Bahraini National Assembly, the main legislative body of Bahrain.

The body was created by the 2002 Constitution of Bahrain. The Council comprises forty members elected by universal suffrage.

The forty seats of the Council of Representatives together with the forty royally-appointed seats of the Consultative Council form the Bahraini National Assembly.

The current chairman of the Council is Khalifa Al Dhahrani. The last elections for the Council were in October 2010.

Demonstration of authority

In March 2012 the Council of Representatives of Bahrain voted to reject a Royal Decree issued by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for the first time since the Council’s establishment in 2002. The royal decree wanted to increase the government's share from 20 per cent to 50 per cent in the revenues of Tamkeen, the country’s labour fund. This was rejected by MPs from many parties, who refused to allow the government access to these funds.

Prominent MPs

• Speaker: Khalifa Al Dhahrani
• First Deputy Speaker: Adel Mouwda
• Ali Mattar
• Jassim Al Saeedi
• Lateefa Al Gaood (first female MP in the Gulf region)

Latest election

 Summary of the 23 October and 30 October 2010 Council of Representatives of Bahrain elections results

Party		Ideology	Seats
	Al Wefaq	Shia Islamist	18
	Al Asalah	Sunni Salafist	3
	Al-Menbar Islamic Society	Sunni Islamist	2
	Independents	Various (all Sunni)	17
	Total		40
Source: "Independents the biggest winners". Gulf Daily News. 1 November 2010. http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=290557.

See also

• Bahraini National Assembly
• Consultative Council of Bahrain
• Bahrain election 2006 women candidates
• List of Speakers of the Council of Representatives of Bahrain

External links

• Council of Representatives official website
• Key issues are "ignored by MPs", Gulf Daily News, 21 January 2006 covers attitudes among civil society groups to MPs' performance since 2002
• Constitution of Bahrain (2002):Part 2 The Chamber of Deputies