The People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) is the only legal party in Eritrea. Other political groups are not allowed to organize, although the unimplemented Constitution of 1997 provides for the existence of multi-party politics. The National Assembly has 150 seats. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. President Isaias Afwerki has been in office since independence in 1993. In 1993, 75 representatives were elected to the National Assembly; the rest are appointed. As the report by the UN Human Rights Council explained: “No national elections have taken place since that time, and no presidential elections have ever taken place. Local or regional elections have not been held since 2003–2004.The National Assembly elected independent Eritrea’s first president, Isaias Afwerki, in 1993. Following his election, Afwerki consolidated his control of the Eritrean government.” President Isaias Afwerki has regularly expressed his disdain for what he refers to as “western-style” democracy. In a 2008 interview with Al Jazeera, for example, the President stated that “Eritrea will wait three or four decades, maybe more, before it holds elections. Who knows?”