Belarus
bicameral Parliament or Natsionalnoye Sobranie consists of
the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats; 56
members elected by regional councils and 8 members appointed by the
president, all for 4-year terms) and the Chamber of Representatives
or Palata Pretsaviteley (110 seats; members elected by universal
adult suffrage to serve 4-year terms)
elections: last held October 2000 (next to be held NA 2004)
election results: party affiliation data unavailable; under present
political conditions party designations are meaningless
Belgium
bicameral Parliament consists of a Senate or Senaat in
Dutch, Senat in French (71 seats; 40 members are directly elected by
popular vote, 31 are indirectly elected; members serve four-year
terms) and a Chamber of Deputies or Kamer van
Volksvertegenwoordigers in Dutch, Chambre des Representants in
French (150 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote on
the basis of proportional representation to serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate and Chamber of Deputies - last held 18 June 2003
(next to be held in NA May 2007)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - SP.A-Spirit
15.5%, VLD 15.4%, CD & V 12.7%, PS 12.8%, MR 12.1%, VB 9.4%, CDH
5.6%; seats by party - SP.A-Spirit 7, VLD 7, CD & V 6, PS 6, MR 5,
VB 5, CDH 2, other 2 (note - there are also 31 indirectly elected
senators); Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - VLD
15.4%, SP.A-Spirit 14.9%, CD & V 13.3%, PS 13.0%, VB 11.6%, MR
11.4%, CDH 5.5%, Ecolo 3.1%; seats by party - VLD 25, SP.A-Spirit
23, CD & V 21, PS 25, VB 18, MR 24, CDH 8 Ecolo 4, other 2
note: as a result of the 1993 constitutional revision that furthered
devolution into a federal state, there are now three levels of
government (federal, regional, and linguistic community) with a
complex division of responsibilities; this reality leaves six
governments each with its own legislative assembly; for other
acronyms of the listed parties see the Political parties and leaders
entry
Belize
bicameral National Assembly consists of the Senate (12
members appointed by the governor general - six on the advice of the
prime minister, three on the advice of the leader of the opposition,
and one each on the advice of the Belize Council of Churches and
Evangelical Association of Churches, the Belize Chamber of Commerce
and Industry and the Belize Better Business Bureau, and the National
Trade Union Congress and the Civil Society Steering Committee;
members are appointed for five-year terms) and the House of
Representatives (29 seats; members are elected by direct popular
vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: House of Representatives - last held 5 March 2003 (next
to be held NA March 2008)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party -
PUP 21, UDP 8
Benin
unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (83 seats;
members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 30 March 2003 (next to be held NA March 2007)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party -
Presidential Movement 52, opposition (PRB, PRD, E'toile, and 5 other
small parties) 31
Bermuda
bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (an 11-member
body appointed by the governor, the premier, and the opposition) and
the House of Assembly (36 seats; members are elected by popular vote
to serve five-year terms)
elections: last general election held 24 July 2003 (next to be held
NA July 2008)
election results: percent of vote by party - PLP 51.7%, UBP 48%;
seats by party - PLP 22, UBP 14
Bhutan
unicameral National Assembly or Tshogdu (150 seats; 105
elected from village constituencies, 10 represent religious bodies,
and 35 are designated by the monarch to represent government and
other secular interests; members serve three-year terms)
elections: local elections last held November 2002 (next to be held
NA 2005)
election results: NA
Bolivia
bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional consists of
Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (27 seats; members are
directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and
Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130 seats; members are
directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms; note -
some members are drawn from party lists, thus not directly elected)
elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held
30 June 2002 (next to be held NA June 2007)
election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party -
NA%; seats by party - MNR 11, MAS 8, MIR 5, NFR 2, other 1; Chamber
of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - MNR
36, MAS 27, MIR 26, NFR 25, others 16
Bosnia and Herzegovina
bicameral Parliamentary Assembly or Skupstina
consists of the National House of Representatives or Predstavnicki
Dom (42 seats - elected by proportional representation, 28 seats
allocated from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 14 seats
from the Republika Srpska; members elected by popular vote to serve
four-year terms) and the House of Peoples or Dom Naroda (15 seats -
5 Bosniak, 5 Croat, 5 Serb; members elected by the Bosniak/Croat
Federation's House of Representatives and the Republika Srpska's
National Assembly to serve four-year terms); note - Bosnia's
election law specifies four-year terms for the state and first-order
administrative division entity legislatures
elections: National House of Representatives - elections last held 5
October 2002 (next to be held in NA 2006); House of Peoples - last
constituted NA January 2003 (next to be constituted in 2007)
election results: National House of Representatives - percent of
vote by party/coalition - SDA 21.9%, SDS 14.0%, SBiH 10.5%, SDP
10.4%, SNSD 9.8%, HDZ 9.5%, PDP 4.6%, others 19.3%; seats by
party/coalition - SDA 10, SDS 5, SBiH 6, SDP 4, SNSD 3, HDZ 5, PDP
2, others 7; House of Peoples - percent of vote by party/coalition -
NA%; seats by party/coalition - NA
note: the Bosniak/Croat Federation has a bicameral legislature that
consists of a House of Representatives (98 seats; members elected by
popular vote to serve four-year terms); elections last held 5
October 2002 (next to be held NA October 2006); percent of vote by
party - NA%; seats by party/coalition - SDA 32, HDZ-BiH 16, SDP 15,
SBiH 15, other 20; and a House of Peoples (60 seats - 30 Bosniak, 30
Croat); last constituted December 2002; the Republika Srpska has a
National Assembly (83 seats; members elected by popular vote to
serve four-year terms); elections last held 5 October 2002 (next to
be held in the fall of 2006); percent of vote by party - NA%; seats
by party/coalition - SDS 26, SNSD 19, PDP 9, SDA 6, SRS 4, SPRS 3,
DNZ 3, SBiH 4, SDP 3, others 6; as a result of the 2002
constitutional reform process, a 28-member Republika Srpska Council
of Peoples (COP) was established in the Republika Srpska National
Assembly; each constituent nation and "others" will have eight
delegates
Botswana
bicameral Parliament consists of the House of Chiefs (a
largely advisory 15-member body consisting of the chiefs of the
eight principal tribes, four elected subchiefs, and three members
selected by the other 12 members) and the National Assembly (44
seats, 40 members are directly elected by popular vote and 4 are
appointed by the majority party; members serve five-year terms)
elections: National Assembly elections last held 16 October 1999
(next to be held NA October 2004)
election results: percent of vote by party - BDP 54.3%, BNF 24.7%,
other 21%; seats by party - BDP 33, BNF 6, other 1
Brazil
bicameral National Congress or Congresso Nacional consists of
the Federal Senate or Senado Federal (81 seats; three members from
each state or federal district elected according to the principle of
majority to serve eight-year terms; one-third elected after a
four-year period, two-thirds elected after the next four-year
period) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camara dos Deputados (513
seats; members are elected by proportional representation to serve
four-year terms)
elections: Federal Senate - last held 6 October 2002 for two-thirds
of the Senate (next to be held NA October 2006 for one-third of the
Senate); Chamber of Deputies - last held 6 October 2002 (next to be
held NA October 2006)
election results: Federal Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%;
seats by party PMBD 19, PFL 19, PT 14, PSDB 11, PDT 5, PSB 4, PL 3,
PTB 3, PPS 1, PSD 1, PPB 1; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by
party - NA%; seats by party - PT 91, PFL 84, PMDB 74, PSDB 71, PPB
49, PL 26, PTB 26, PSB 22, PDT 21, PPS 15, PCdoB 12, PRONA 6, PV 5,
other 11