Chamber of Deputies (Equatorial Guinea)

The Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de los Diputados; Chambre des députés; Câmara dos Deputados) is the lower house of the Parliament of Equatorial Guinea.

Although vested with considerable powers under the country's constitution, the Chamber has been dominated by the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea since its establishment, and there is virtually no opposition to executive decisions. Indeed, there have never been more than eight opposition legislators in the body.

Electoral system
The 100 members of the Chamber are elected by closed-list proportional representation in multi-member constituencies. Members serve five-year terms.

Legislative history
The first legislative body was the unicameral General Assembly of Spanish Guinea (Asamblea General) which was established in 1964, when Spanish Guinea was given autonomy. It was replaced by Republican Assembly (Asamblea de la Republica) in October 1968, which had 36 deputies elected for five-year terms. Additionally there was Republican Council - Senate (Consejo de la Republica). Mba Ada was the first president of the Senate. Senate ceased to exist in 1973 when most of the senators fled the country or were murdered. By 1974, four or every five deputies of the earlier Republican Assembly had been murdered.

The Republican Assembly was replaced by Popular National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional Popular) in the Constitution of 1973. It had 60 deputies effectively selected by PUNT, the single party allowed to operate. The legislature was dissolved in 1979.

A unicameral House of Representatives of the People (Cámara de los Representantes del Pueblo) started to function in 1983. All members needed to swore loyalty to Obiang Nguema.

In 2013, bicameralism was introduced with a Senate, and the House of Representatives of the People became the lower chamber as Chamber of Deputies.