The Council of Representatives (; , Enjumen-e Nûnerên), usually referred to simply as the Parliament is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, it is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the country. As of 2020, it comprises 329 seats and meets in Baghdad inside the Green Zone. History The monarchy An elected Iraqi parliament first formed following the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1925. The 1925 constitution called for a bicameral parliament whose lower house, the Chamber of Deputies of Iraq or Council of Representatives (Majlis an-Nuwwab) would be elected based on universal manhood suffrage. The upper house, the Senate of Iraq (Majlis al-A`yan) was appointed by the king. Sixteen elections took place between 1925 and the coup of 1958. On January 17, 1953 elections for the Chamber of Deputies (also known as the National Assembly) took place. Following controversy over the implementation of the so-called Baghdad Pact, Prime Minister Nuri Pasha as-Said called for elections the following year, in early 1954. As-Said dissolved the assembly shortly thereafter and began to rule by decree, but opposition forced him to hold a third election within three years. The second 1954 election was very corrupt, with as-Said's political enemies banned from running, and widespread voter coercion. The assembly was suspended yet again, and in 1958 a military coup deposed as-Said and the monarchy, and abolished the parliament. Under Saddam Hussein The 1970 constitution created a republic with an elected National Assembly (al-Majlis al-Watani). However, elections for the Assembly did not take place until June 1980, under Iraq's new military president, Saddam Hussein. Several more elections took place between 1989 and 2003. Elections for its members were not considered free and fair by the international community. Only members of Hussein's own Baath Party were ever elected. The transitional period In 2003, Saddam Hussein was forcibly removed from power by the United States of America, the United Kingdom and their allies during the Iraq War. In March 2003 a governing council set up by the Coalition Provisional Authority signed an interim constitution which called for the election of a transitional National Assembly after than the end of January 2005. This Assembly would draft a permanent constitution which would then be submitted to approval by the Iraqi people in a general referendum. Elections for this transitional National Assembly (al-Jam`iyya al-Wataniyya) took place on January