Bahrain Parliament

National Assembly
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Consultative Council Council of Representatives
Leadership
Chairman of the Consultative Council	Ali Bin Saleh Al-Saleh Since 24 November 2010
Speaker of the Council of Representatives	Ahmed Bin Ibrahim Al-Mulla Since 14 December 2014
Structure
Seats	80 40 in the Consultative Council 40 Representatives
Consultative Council political groups	Independent (40)
Council of Representatives political groups	Al Asalah (2)      Al-Menbar (1)      Independent (37)
Elections
Consultative Council voting system	Appointed by the King
Council of Representatives voting system	Two-round system
Council of Representatives last election	22 November 2014
Meeting place
Manama
Website
www.shura.bh

     Al Asalah (2)
     Al-Menbar (1)

The National Assembly is the name of both chambers of the Bahraini parliament when sitting in joint session, as laid out in the Constitution of 2002.

It has 80 seats formed from the 40 elected members of the Council of Representatives (the lower house) and the 40 royally-appointed members of the Consultative Council (the upper house).

It is chaired by the Speaker of the Consultative Council, or by the Speaker of the Council of Representatives if the former is absent.

Under the 1973 Constitution (), the National Assembly was a single chamber parliament consisting of forty members elected by "universal suffrage". However, the then Amir, Shaikh Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah decreed that women would not be considered as "universal suffrage" and were not allowed to vote in the 1973 parliamentary elections.

The first ever National Assembly in Bahrain was elected in 1973 under the statutes of the first constitution which was promulgated of that same year. In 1975 the Assembly was dissolved 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 Assembly to meet again or hold elections during his lifetime.