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LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS xxxiii
Part V, the final Part, contains the rules for the amendment of the
Constitution and for its coming into effect.
According to Article 104 (a), “it is stipulated that for an amendment
to be made to any provision of this Constitution, it shall be passed by
a majority vote of two-thirds of the members constituting the
Assembly and ratified by the Amir.'*
Article 105 (a) provides that “the application of this constitution shall
not affect treaties and conventions previously concluded by Bahrain
with other States and international organisations."
Article (109) states that the Constitution shall be published in the
Official Gazette and shall come into force from the date of the
meeting of the National Assembly which shall not be later than the
Sixteenth Day of December, 1973.
After the approval of the Constitution by the Constituent
Assembly on 2 June 1973, it was ratified by the Amir and published on
6 December, 1973.
In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the Amir
promulgated on 11 July 1973, a new election law (Law No. 10 for
1973, concerning the Rules for the Election of the National
Assembly).1 According to this Law, 30 Bahraini males, over thirty
years old. shall be elected as members for the National Assembly.
For the purpose of this Law, Bahrain Islands are divided into eight
constituencies, distributed over twenty wards. The Law fixes the
7th day of December as the election day.
The Bahrain Constitution, which is modeled on the Kuwaiti
Constitution of 1962, marks a major step towards the establishment
of the first pattern of a democratic system of government in the
Arab Emirates of the lower Gulf.
/. Nationality
Bahrain nationality is governed by the provisions of the Bahrain
Nationality Law of 16 September 1963. This Law defines three
categories of Bahrainis, namely Bahrainis by descent, Bahrainis by
birth, and Bahrainis by naturalisation.
(a) A Bahraini by descent is defined as a person born in Bahrain
after the passing of the Nationality Law of 1963, from a Bahraini
father. If the said person is born outside Bahrain, his father or
grandfather must have been born in Bahrain.
(b) A Bahraini by birth is defined as a person born in Bahrain, after
the passing of the Nationality Law, from a Bahraini father born and
domiciled in Bahrain, provided that the said person does not have

1. See al-Jaridah al-Rasmiy7ih, No. 1030, 26 July 1973.
2. See al-Jaridah al-Rasmiyah, (Bahrain Official Gazette) No. 534, 19 September
1963. It is to be noted that the Bahrain Nationality Law of 1963 amended the
original Law on Nationality of May 1937, discussed in this book at p. 124 below.