National Assembly 國民大會 Guómín Dàhuì |
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Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Founded | November 15, 1946 |
Disbanded | June 7, 2005 |
Elections | |
Last election
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May 14, 2005 |
Meeting place | |
Nanjing Great Hall of the People,Zhongshan Hall,Chung-Shan Building | |
Website | |
www |
The National Assembly (Chinese: 國民大會; pinyin: Guómín Dàhuì) refers to several parliamentary bodies that existed in the Republic of China.
The National Assembly was founded in 1913 as the first legislature in Chinese history. It was disbanded less than a year later as President Yuan Shikai assumed dictatorial power. During the warlord era, the National Assembly was resurrected and disbanded more than once as different warlords vied for power and legitimacy.
The last continuous National Assembly was established under the framework of the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China as a constitutional convention and electoral college and called into place in 1948. It was transplanted to Taiwan in 1949 after the Kuomintang (KMT) lost mainland China in the Chinese Civil War. In the 1990s, its parliamentary powers were gradually transferred to the Legislative Yuan before constitutional amendments made it a dormant body in 2000 and fully defunct in 2005.
Calls for a National Assembly were part of the platform of the revolutionaries who ultimately overthrew the Qing Dynasty. In response, the Qing Dynasty formed the first assembly in 1910, but it was virtually powerless and intended only as an advisory body.
After the Xinhai Revolution, elections yielded the bicameral 1913 National Assembly, but significantly less than one percent voted due to gender, property, tax, residential, and literacy requirements. It was not a single nationwide election but a series of local elections that began in December 1912 with most concluding in January 1913. The poll was indirect, as voters chose electors who picked the delegates, in some cases leading to instances of bribery. The Senate was elected by the provincial assemblies. The president had to pick the 64 members representing Tibet, Outer Mongolia, and Overseas Chinese for practical reasons. However, these elections had the participation of over 300 civic groups and were the most competitive nationwide elections in Chinese history.