Chamber:
	Parlement
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	1 December 1996 8 December 1996
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held to renew all the seats in the Federal Assembly following the premature dissolution of this body. General elections had previously been held in December 1993.
Background and outcome of elections:
	The 1996 parliamentary elections were postponed three times for technical reasons before finally taking place in December. They were preceded by polling for President of the Republic in March, when Mr. Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim was chosen to succeed Mr. Said Mohamed Djohar. On 20 October 1996, a new Constitution was approved by popular referendum. Eight days later, political forces in opposition to the ruling National Rally for Development (RND) and united in the "Forum Federation" announced that they would boycott the elections due to failed negotiations with the Government over certain provisions of the Constitution regarding political parties and the Forum's main demands concerning establishment of an independent electoral commission and revision of the electoral registers. As a result of this pull-out, only the RND and the National Front for Justice (FNJ), an Islamic group supporting President Taki, contested the 43 seats at stake. Counting independents, there were altogether 77 candidates. The first round of polling decided 37 races, with 32 of these being won by the RND, some uncontested. The remaining six seats were filled in the second round on 8 December. Both voting days were marked by low turnout. The opposition characterised the exercise as a "masquerade". On 27 December, President Taki appointed Mr. Ahmed Abdou Prime Minister. Membership of the Council of Ministers was announced four days later.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (December 1996): Elections results
Voters	20%

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
National Rally for Development (RND)	36
National Front for Justice (FNJ)	3
Independents	4

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	43
Women:	0