Elections in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Politics of the SADR |
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Elections in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic are regularly held by the government-in-exile at a national, regional and local level. Elections are considered to be held under a non-partisan participatory democratic regime, as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and the Polisario Front (the sole legally recognised political movement in the SADR, which leads to a de-facto one-party state) structures are parallel.
The SADR claims the
The Constitution of the SADR, proclaimed in 1976 and amemded several times, stipulates that the current political system is an emergency mechanism, with the intention to establish a multi-party system as soon as the SADR manages to establish its authority in all of Western Sahara. The Polisario would then either be dissolved or transformed into an ordinary political party based on an extraordinary Congress.
History
The Polisario Front organised several
The political system established has been described as a participatory democracy,[1] where the main space of political participation was open discussion meetings organised for all citizens to attend voluntarily, and in which they are free to express their opinions and put questions to the government representatives running the meeting, who are responsible to pass on the views and suggestions of the local population. The open discussion meetings, known as political meetings,[a] are held before elections and congresses of organisations (women, trade union, youth...).
Direct elections were held to the newly formed
Presidential election
The President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is elected by the Congress of the Polisario Front, together with the National Secretariat, which is the most important decision-making organism inside the Polisario Front when Congresses are not held. The President of the SADR is also the General Secretary of the Polisario Front.
To be elected General-Secretary of the Polisario Front and thus President of the SADR the following requirements have to be met:[2]
- Being a Sahrawi national.
- Having a militant experience of at least twenty years and have held positions in the national leadership for at least ten years.
- Having military experience during the war.
- Being at least 40 years old.
- Having a clean criminal record.
The candidates are proposed by the Election Commission, and voted on by the Congress. The vote is done by ballot directly and secretly, with a
Legislative election
Legislative elections are held for the Sahrawi National Council, legally considered the successor of the colonial Yema'a. The election system has varied several times.
To be elected to the Sahrawi National Council the following requirements (as set in Article 82 of the 2023 Constitution[3]) 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.
- 2023 Sahrawi legislative election
- 2020 Sahrawi legislative election
- 2016 Sahrawi legislative election
- 2012 Sahrawi legislative election
- 2008 Sahrawi legislative election
See also
Notes
References
- ^ Zunes, Stephen (1988). "Participatory Democracy in the Sahara: A Study of Polisario Self-Governance". Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives. 7 (2–3): 141.
- ^ a b "Todo el detalle sobre cómo funciona el Congreso del Frente Polisario" [All the details on how the Congress of the Polisario Front works]. SaharawisToday (in Spanish). 8 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
- ^ "Article 82" (PDF). Constitution of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Center for Western Sahara Studies of the USC. January 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
Bibliography
- Mundy, Jacob A. (14 May 2007). "Performing the nation, pre-figuring the state: the Western Saharan refugees, thirty years later". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 45 (2): 275–297. S2CID 154816713. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
- San Martin, Pablo (2005). "Nationalism, identity and citizenship in the Western Sahara". The Journal of North African Studies. 10 (3): 565–592. S2CID 144988314. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
- Solana, Vivian (19 December 2019). "Hospitality's Prowess: Performing Sahrāwī Sovereignty in Refugee Camps". PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review. 42 (2): 362–379. S2CID 214475535. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
- Rossetti, Sonia (6 July 2008). Formal and Informal Gender Quotas in State-Building: The Case of the Sahara Arab Democratic Republic. Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA) Conference 2008. Brisbane: University of Queensland. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
- Wilson, Alice (21 October 2010). "Democratising elections without parties: reflections on the case of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic". The Journal of North African Studies. 15 (4): 423–438. S2CID 143957018. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
Further reading
- Ruiz Miguel, Carlos (2022). El Frente Polisario: Desde sus orígenes hasta la actualidad [The Polisario Front: From its origins to the present] (in Spanish). ISBN 9788411312134.
External links
- "Binomio Frente Polisario - RASD" [Polisario Front - SADR Binomial] (in Spanish). SaharawisToday. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
