National Assembly | |
|---|---|
| 9th National Assembly | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 1946 (Colonial) 1977 (Constituent Assembly) 1992 (Current constitution) |
New session started | 5 March 2023 |
| Leadership | |
President | |
First Vice President | |
Second Vice President | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 65 |
 | |
Political groups | Majority (58) Minority (7)
|
Length of term | 5 years |
| Elections | |
| Party-list proportional representation | |
First election | 21 May 1982 |
Last election | 24 February 2023 |
Next election | 2028 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Assemblee Nationale Djibouti City,Djibouti Region Republic of Djibouti | |
| Website | |
| www | |
| Constitution | |
| Constitution of Djibouti | |
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 Member State of the Arab League |
Legislature |
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.svg) Africa portal Politics portal |
TheNational Assembly, formerly known as theChamber of Deputies, is theunicameralparliament of theRepublic of Djibouti. Established under Title V of the1992 Constitution, it consists of 65 members who are elected by direct and secret universal suffrage and cannot simultaneously serve in theGovernment. Elections are scheduled to be held once every five years, normally on the last Friday of February. The most recent elections were held on24 February 2023.
Djibouti’s legislative body traces its origins to the colonial era. From 1946 to 1957, the territory—then under foreign rule asFrench Somaliland—was governed by a Representative Council. The 1956 framework law introduced a Territorial Assembly, which functioned as the main legislative body until 1967, when it was replaced by the Chamber of Deputies of theFrench Territory of the Afars and the Issas. Following Djibouti’s independence following the1977 referendum, the Chamber of Deputies remained in place, eventually evolving into the modern National Assembly.
The National Assembly consists of 65 members known as deputies – 30Somali (30Issa) and 25Afar. Members are elected to serve five-year terms inmulti-member constituencies, which range from 4 to 37 seats each. Any Djiboutian citizen aged 23 or older, with full civil and political rights, is eligible to run for office. The country’s first multi-party parliamentary elections since independence in 1977 were held in2003. The ruling coalition, led by thePeople's Rally for Progress (RPP), secured 62.7% of the vote but was awarded all legislative seats.
Since its inception, the National Assembly has been overwhelmingly dominated by the RPP, which currently heads theUnion for a Presidential Majority (UMP) coalition. From 1981 to 1992, the RPP was the only legal political party. Opposition parties were legalized following the1992 constitutional referendum, but the RPP continued to control the legislature. Beginning in 1997, the party ran elections as part of a coalition—rebranded in 2003 as the UMP—which maintained its firm grip on parliament. It was not until the2013 elections that opposition parties finally secured representation. However, in the2018 elections, which were boycotted by major opposition groups, the UMP retained a dominant two-thirds majority.[1][2]
Djibouti’s political system remains highly centralized, with executive authority concentrated in the presidency, a position held byIsmaïl Omar Guelleh since1999, which has left little room for legislative opposition. As of 2018, a quota mandates that at least 25% of parliamentary seats be held by women.[3]
| Name | Took office | Left office | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahmed Dini Ahmed | 13 May 1977 | 13 July 1977 | [4] |
| Saad Warsama Dirie | 13 July 1977 | May 1979 | [4] |
| Abdoulkader Waberi Askar | May 1979 | 10 February 1993 | [4] |
| Said Ibrahim Badoul | 22 November 1993 | 21 January 2003 | [4] |
| Idriss Arnaoud Ali | 21 January 2003 | 12 February 2015 | |
| Mohamed Ali Houmed | 10 April 2015 | 2023 | |
| Dileita Mohamed Dileita | 5 March 2023 | Incumbent |
The National Assembly building of Djibouti, constructed with partial funding from the Iranian government, was completed on 23 November 2014. However, the debt incurred for the project remains unpaid to this day. The inauguration ceremony was attended by theSpeaker of theIslamic Consultative Assembly,Ali Larijani, who formally handed over the building.
| |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Union for the Presidential Majority | 159,658 | 93.68 | 58 | +1 | |
| Djibouti Union for Democracy and Justice | 10,772 | 6.32 | 7 | +2 | |
| Total | 170,430 | 100.00 | 65 | 0 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 230,295 | – | |||
| Source:Official Journal | |||||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
