The Sahrawi National Council (SNC) or Sahrawi Parliament is the legislature of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Its structure and competences are guided by the Constitution. The present speaker since 2010 is H.E Mr. Kathri Aduh.
It was first created by Polisario Front members and Sahrawi members of the Spanish-constituted Council of representatives, as the Provisionary National Council in April or November 1975, after the proclamation of the SADR, on February 27, 1976, by POLISARIO leader El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed, who announced that the Council had declared the creation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, of which it became the first parliament.
On the POLISARIO’s III General Popular Congress (August 26–30, 1976), a newly elected membership was formally installed as the Sahrawi National Council.
The SNC is a unicameral body, with 53 seats, elected every two years (since the XIII POLISARIO Congress) at the General Popular Congresses by delegates from the Sahrawi refugee camps, supplemented by representatives of the Sahrawi People’s Liberation Army and the civil society organizations (UJSARIO, UNMS, UGTSARIO).
In the last election (2012), 35% of the parliamentarians were women. It usually convenes in Tifariti, at the Liberated Territories of Western Sahara, but on occasion also in the refugee camps.
In its last election (2012), 158 candidates competed for 52 seats in 11 constituencies.
