The Kingdom of Bahrain is an island country which is located in the Persian Gulf. It is the smallest Arab nation whose Government works under the framework of a constitutional monarchy. In the constitutional monarchy Government of Bahrain, the king appoints an executive and a bi-cameral parliament with the Chamber of Deputies. The Parliament or National Assembly of Bahrain is of bicameral nature. The Parliament of Bahrain has two house or chambers. The lower house known as the Chamber of Deputies includes 40 members. All the deputies of the lower house are elected in single-seat constituencies by universal suffrage. The upper house of the Parliament of Bahrain called Shura Council also has 40 members appointed by the king of Bahrain. Bahrain is a constitutional monarchy, headed by the king, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The Prime Minister presides over a cabinet of twenty-three members.
The first National Assembly in Bahrain was elected in 1973 under the legislative act of the first constitution of 1973. In 1975 the Parliament was dismissed by the then Emir Shaikh Isa ibn Salman al-Khalifa because it refused to pass the government sponsored State Security Law of 1974. The Emir subsequently did not allow the Parliament to hold elections during his lifetime. After the death of Isa ibn Salman al-Khalifa in 1999, his son Shaikh Hamad ibn Isa al-Khalifah, the new ruler of Bahrain published the new Constitution of 2002. The current king of Bahrain, King Hamad brought in comprehensive political reforms to the Kingdom of Bahrain, which included the holding elections for parliament. In 2002, elections were held for the Chamber of Deputies and he appointed the members for the Shura Council, of the Bahrain Parliament . |
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