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2023 Sahrawi legislative election

Legislative elections were held in the Sahrawi Republic on 8–9 April 2023 to elect 50 of the 51 members of the Sahrawi National Council, the unicameral parliament of the SADR.

Election system

To be elected to the Sahrawi National Council the following requirements (as set in Article 82 of the 2023 Constitution) have to be met:

  • Being a Sahrawi national.
  • Having a clean criminal record.
  • Being at least 25 years old.
  • Being a political supervisor performing their duties in the institution they supervise when submitting their candidacy file.
  • Having a university degree or a two-year specialised certificate, in addition to five years of work or a professional experience of no less than five years in one or more of the following jobs:
  • Member of the Sahrawi National Council for one or more terms;
  • Regional staff in the army and above;
  • Ambassador, representative or a head of a diplomatic mission at a country level;
  • Member of a regional council or above;
  • Basic branch secretary or mayor or above;
  • Member of the executive office of a mass organization for at least a full term;
  • Former secretary of a mass organization.

Elections are held on the basis of direct and universal suffrage using the single non-transferable vote election system with a gender quota reserving seats to women. Members can be re-elected but cannot assume any other public office while serving as Members of the National Council. Members come from constituencies based either on the districts of the refugee camps or the military regions of the SADR; while mass organisations and the Consultative Council get seats reserved. The President of the National Council is elected from outside of the members from candidates proposed by the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front.

Results

Aftermath

Hamma Salama, a member of POLISARIO's national secretariat, was elected President of the Sahrawi National Council for a second term on 18 April 2023 during the constitutive session of the National Council. Salama won the vote against Bachir Mustafa Sayed and Jira Bulahi.

Notes

References