Often termed the ‘Custodian of the House’, the Speaker serves as an impartial presiding officer for a legislature and head of its secretariat. In case of the National Assembly, the Speaker is elected by secret ballot at the first meeting of the Assembly after a general election — before any other business, including the election of the Prime Minister. Any member may nominate another member by delivering a signed nomination paper to the Secretary by noon on the day before the election. The outgoing Speaker presides over the election, unless they are themselves a candidate.

How is a winner decided?

The National Assembly rules provide clear guidelines for deciding the outcome of the Speaker’s election across the following possible scenarios:

  1. If there is only one candidate by the time the Assembly proceeds to elect a speaker, that candidate is declared elected without a vote.
  2. If there are two candidates, a ballot is held between them and the candidate who secures more votes is declared elected.
  3. If there are two candidates and both secure an equal number of votes, a fresh ballot is held between them. This continues until one candidate secures more votes than the other.
  4. If there are three or more candidates, the candidate who obtains more votes than the aggregate of votes secured by all other candidates combined is declared elected.
  5. If there are three or more candidates and no candidate secures more votes than the aggregate of all others, a fresh ballot is held from which the candidate who secured the lowest number of votes in the previous round is excluded. The balloting continues in this manner until one candidate secures more votes than the remaining candidate or candidates in the aggregate.

Why it matters for the National Assembly proceedings?

The Speaker’s election by secret ballot — before the government is formed — signals that the Speaker represents the Assembly as an institution, not the government of the day. The secret ballot protects members from party pressure. The elimination-round voting system ensures that the eventual winner has genuine majority support rather than merely plurality backing in a crowded field.

What is in it for citizens?

For citizens, the Speaker election is the first test of whether a new Assembly will function as an independent institution or as an extension of the executive. A Speaker seen as partisan weakens the Assembly’s capacity to hold government accountable.

Source: Rule 9, Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007

The proceedings of the National Assembly are governed by the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007. The current rules were passed on 23 February 2007 and have since been amended 21 times.

This post is part of FAFEN’s series on parliamentary literacy. Read more of this series here.