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= Pan-African Parliament = Coordinates: 26°0′07″S 28°07′46″E

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union and held its inaugural session in March 2004. The PAP exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers, lasting for the first five years. Initially the seat of the Pan-African Parliament was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but it was later moved to Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The goal in establishing the parliament was creating a space where people from all states of Africa could meet, deliberate, and pass some policy on issues that effect the entire continent of Africa.

The Parliament is composed of five members per member state that has ratified the Protocol establishing it, including at least one woman per Member State. These members are selected by their member state and their domestic legislatures. The overall goal for the parliament is to be an institution that has full legislative power whose members are elected through universal suffrage, as stated by South African President Jacob Zuma in his opening speech to the first ordinary session of the second legislature of the Pan-African Parliament on October 28th, 2009.

Structure
The Parliament is made up of three main bodies: the plenary, bureau, and secretariat. There are also Ten Permanent Committees, which were created to deal with different sectors of life in Africa.

Plenary
The Plenary is the main decision-making body of the Parliament. The Plenary consists of the delegates from the member states, and is chaired by the President. It is the body which passes resolutions.

The Pan-African Parliament has 235 representatives that are elected by the legislatures of 47 of the 54 AU states, rather than being directly elected in their own capacity. Each member state sends a delegation of five parliamentarians to the Parliament, at least one of whom must be a woman. The composition of the delegation should reflect the political diversity of the member state's legislature.

Bureau
Main article: Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament

The Bureau is the leadership group of the Parliament and consists of the President and four vice-presidents. Each member of the Bureau represents a different region of Africa. The current members of the Bureau are:


 * Acting President - Roger Nkodo Dang of Cameroon, was elected as president of the Pan-African Parliament in May 2015, succeeding Bethel Nnaemeka Amadi, and was reelected for a three year term in May of 2018.
 * First Vice President - Stephen Julius Masele of Tanzania, was elected as 1st vice president in May 2018, representing East Africa in the Pan-African Parliament.
 * Second Vice President - Aichata Haidara Cissé of Mali, was elected as 2nd vice president in May 2018, representing West Africa in the Pan-African Parliament.
 * Third Vice President - Bouras Djamel of Algeria, was elected as 3rd vice president in May 2018, representing North Africa in the Pan-African Parliament.
 * Fourth Vice President - Chief Fortune Charumbira of South Africa, was elected as 2nd vice president in October 2018, representing West Africa in the Pan-African Parliament.

Secretariat
Main article: Secretariat of the Pan-African Parliament

The Secretariat assists in the day-to-day running of the Parliament, undertaking duties such as minuting meetings, organising elections and managing staff. The Secretariat consists of the Clerk of Parliament and two Deputy Clerks - one of whom leads the Legislative Business Department, the other the Finance, Administration, and Human Resources. The Clerk of Parliament and their deputies are also supported by other staff and functionaries when needed.

The current members of the Secretariat are:


 * Clerk – Vipya Harawa (Malawi)
 * Deputy Clerk (Legislative Business) – Gali Massa Harou (Chad)
 * Acting Deputy Clerk (Finance, Administration and Human Resource) – Charlotte Marck (Zimbabwe)

History
The Abuja Treaty of 1991 and Sirte Declaration of 1999 called for the creation of a PAP. The former had simply listed the PAP among the organization's bodies and stated, "In order to ensure that the peoples of Africa are fully involved in the economic development and integration of the Continent, there shall be established a Pan-African Parliament. The composition, functions, powers and organisation of the Pan-African Parliament shall be defined in a Protocol providing thereof." The Treaty on the Establishment of the African Union and a Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African Parliament followed. Then there was the Constitutive Act of the African Union. The Protocol Establishing the Pan African Parliament was adopted in 2000 during the OAU Summit in Lomé, Togo. As of 2022, the PAP has representatives hailing from 47 of the 54 AU member states. Article 22 of the PAP protocol provides for the Protocol to enter into force after deposit of the instruments of ratification by a simple majority of the member states.

Current Affairs
When Roger Nkodo Dang's latest three-year term ended in may of 2021, the Pan-African Parliament met to elect a new president and vice-presidents. The meeting proved to be unfruitful as the constituencies from western and central Africa did not come to a conscious on who would lead the Bureau. There were even physical altercations between lawmakers and members of the parliament, with some people even grabbing the ballot box itself. As such, the meeting adjourned with an unclear understanding of who would head the Pan-African Parliament in the future. The African Union stepped in during November of 2021 to help provide aid to the Pan-African Parliament to complete their elections and return the parliament back to order. Since then, Bouras Djame l has been elected as the tentative leader of the parliament, while the remaining results of the elections are in flux until the plenary reconvenes in July 2022, where they plan on completing their elections.

Meetings
The Pan-African Parliament is able to meet in an ordinary session up to twice in a year, usually in March and August. These ordinary sessions are regular meetings in which issues in Africa are discussed, and legislature can be voted on and passed to meet the needs of Africa as members of the Pan-African Parliament see fit, and last up to a month long. The permanent committes of the parliament always meet twice a year for statutory meetings, and can convene as often as they see fit during ordinary sessions of parliament for non-statutory meetings. The parliament can also meet in extraordinary sessions in case of emergency or some other extenuating circumstances.