Chamber of Deputies (Tunisia)

The Chamber of Deputies (Arabic: Majlis al-Nuwaab) is Tunisia’s lower Chamber. It has 189 seats and members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. 20% of the seats are reserved for the opposition. Elections are held in the last 30 days of each five-year term. To be eligible for office, one must be a voter with a Tunisian mother or father and be at least 23 years old the day candidacy is announced. Elections were most recently held in October 2009.

Under the Constitution of Tunisia, the Chamber of Deputies theoretically has great lawmaking powers, and even has the right to censure the government by a two-thirds majority. In practice, the body has been dominated by the Democratic Constitutional Rally (formerly the Neo-Destour Party and Socialist Destour Party) since independence, and historically there has been little opposition to executive decisions. Recently, the chamber has taken an increased role in debating national policy, but all legislation still originates with the president.

Elections held on October 24, 2004 and October 25, 2009 resulted in substantial majorities for the Democratic Constitutional Rally. The 2004 election yielded the following results:

Template:Tunisian legislative election, 2004

See also

• President of the Chamber of Deputies of Tunisia