The IPA was inaugurated in late 1998 and immediately became embroiled in contentious debate regarding the type of electoral system to embrace. Eventually there was an agreement to change the structure of the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly: of 120 seats, 80 would be directly elected, and the remaining 40 would be indirectly elected, allocated to qualifying political parties on the basis of proportional representation. Reaching an agreement took longer than expected, though, and the IPA was not able to establish an…
