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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Ivory Coast
Index
Under the Constitution, legislative responsibilities
theoretically belong to a unicameral National Assembly
(Assemblé
Nationale). In 1985 it was enlarged from 147 to 175
members, who
were known as deputies (députés). Qualifications
for
candidates to the Assembly were established by the
government. Like
the president, deputies were elected by universal suffrage
within
a constituency for five-year terms. Until 1980,
Houphouët-Boigny
had handpicked the deputies, who were automatically
elected to the
assembly as part of a single slate. Consequently, the
National
Assembly was a passive body that almost automatically
consented to
executive instructions. The assembly did have power to
delay
legislation by means of extended debate. Deputies,
however, rarely
challenged the president's policy decisions, and little
debate
occurred. Starting with the 1980 election,
Houphouët-Boigny opened
the process so that any qualified citizen could be a
candidate.
Moreover, the constitutional amendment of October 1985
stipulating
that the president of the National Assembly would become
interim
president of the republic, should the presidency be
vacated,
conferred greater importance on the workings of the
assembly.
Pursuant to the Constitution, each legislative term
lasted five
years, during which the National Assembly sat for two
sessions per
year. The first term began on the last Wednesday in April
and
lasted no more than three months. The second opened on the
first
Wednesday of October and ended on the third Friday in
December. The
president or a majority of the deputies could request an
extraordinary session to consider a specific issue.
Meetings of the
assembly were open unless otherwise requested by the
president or
one-third of the deputies.
The National Assembly elected its own president, who
served for
the duration of the legislative term. In 1988 this
position was
second only to the president of the republic in the table
of
precedence. It was held by Henri Konan Bedié for the
1985-90 term.
The assembly president's staff was also elected by the
assembly. A
member of this staff would preside over the National
Assembly
whenever the president of the assembly was not present.
Legislation was proposed within three standing
committees: the
Committee for General and Institutional Affairs, which
covered
interior matters, the civil service, information, national
defense,
foreign affairs, and justice; the Committee for Economic
and
Financial Affairs, which covered financial and economic
affairs,
planning, land, public works, mines, transportation,
postal service
and telecommunications; and the Committee for Social and
Cultural
Affairs, which covered education, youth and sports, public
health
and population, labor, and social affairs. The assembly
could also
form special standing committees for specific purposes.
Each
committee presented to the full assembly legislative
proposals
pertaining to affairs within its area of expertise.
Determining the
legislative agenda was the responsibility of the president
of the
National Assembly, his staff, and the committee heads.
Data as of November 1988
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