FEATURES OF STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION OF UNICAMERAL PARLIAMENTS IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Abstract

Peculiarities of the formation and structural organization of unicameral parliaments in African countries using the methods of comparative political-geographical analysis and correlational analysis are the purposes of our research. The history of the establishment of unicameralism in African countries is briefly characterized, as well as the number of countries where a unicameral parliamentary system is constitutionally established. The terms of the powers of deputies of unicameral parliaments and the number of their deputy corps were analyzed. African countries are characterized by the dominance of the five-year term authority of deputies. The number of deputies in the unicameral parliaments of African countries is very diverse. This made it possible to classify countries with unicameral parliaments into five groups based on the total number of deputies. The grouping of countries by the share of women in unicameral parliaments and the number of inhabitants per member of parliament was also carried out. According to this indicator, the countries of East and West Africa stand out, five of which are included in the list of the first 50 countries in the world. A direct correlative dependence of the number of deputies of unicameral parliaments on the number of countries' population, the size of the state territory and the number of administrativeterritorial units of the first and second hierarchical levels was revealed. It was also analyzed how many residents of the country per member of the unicameral parliament, and significant disproportionality among countries according to this indicator was revealed. It was established that in African countries, unicameral parliamentary systems are characterized by: the dominance of a five-year term of the powers of deputies, great variability in the number of deputies, in the share of women elected to parliament, and in the number of people per deputy.