 An elected representative body was not reintroduced until the rule of Sheikh Isa's son, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who succeeded as head of state in 1999, and initiated wide-ranging political reforms scrapping the restrictive state security laws, giving women the right to vote, freeing all political prisoners and holding parliamentary elections.The first poll was the 2002 Bahraini general election, with MPs serving four‑year terms; the second parliamentary election was the 2006 Bahraini general election.The reforms were based on the National Action Charter, a package of political changes that was endorsed by the people of Bahrain on 14 February 2001, in a popular referendum that saw a 98.4% vote in favour.