Seats 40 members | ||
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Speaker Ahmed Bin Ibrahim Al-MullaSince 14 December 2014 Secretary-General Abdullah bin Khalaf Al DosariSince 27 October 2014 Political groups Al Asalah (2) Al-Menbar (1) Independents (37) | ||
The Council of Representatives (Majlis an-nuwab), sometimes translated as the "Chamber of Deputies", is the name given to the lower house of the Bahraini National Assembly, the main legislative body of Bahrain.
The body was created by the 2002 Constitution of Bahrain. The Council comprises forty members elected by universal suffrage.
The forty seats of the Council of Representatives together with the forty royally-appointed seats of the Consultative Council form the Bahraini National Assembly.
The current chairman of the Council is Khalifa Al Dhahrani. The last elections for the Council were in October 2010.
Demonstration of authority
In March 2012 the Council of Representatives of Bahrain voted to reject a Royal Decree issued by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for the first time since the Council’s establishment in 2002. The royal decree wanted to increase the government's share from 20 per cent to 50 per cent in the revenues of Tamkeen, the country’s labour fund. This was rejected by MPs from many parties, who refused to allow the government access to these funds.