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An Australian Republic - Thinking About the Drafting...

Extracts from the "Four Precedents", Topic 1:
Election and Term of Office of the President


This is one of the supplementary pages to Thinking About the Drafting. The purpose of these pages is explained in Four Precedents - Introduction.

Austria

Article 60 [Election]

(1) The Federal President is elected by the nation on the basis of equal, direct, secret, and personal suffrage. If there is only one candidate, the election takes place by way of referendum. Anyone with House of Representatives suffrage is entitled to vote. Voting in the election is compulsory in Federal States where State law so provides. Detailed provisions about the electoral procedure and possible compulsory voting will be established by a federal law. This same law shall in particular lay down the reasons held to excuse non-participation in the election regardless of compulsory voting.

(2) The candidate who polls more than half of all valid votes has been elected. If no such majority results, a second ballot takes place. Votes in this can validly be cast only for one of the two candidates who have polled the most votes in the first ballot; but each of the two groups of voters who put up these two candidates can in the second ballot nominate another individual to replace its original candidate.

(3) Only a person who has House of Representatives franchise and was thirty five years old before the first of January of the year in which the election is held can be elected Federal President. Members of reigning houses or of formerly regnant families are excluded from eligibility.

(4) The result of the election of the Federal President shall be officially published by the Federal Chancellor.

(5) The Federal President holds office for six years. Re-election for the immediately following term of office is admissible once.

(6) [Mainly about dismissal, but then says...] The Federal President's total term of office may not exceed twelve years.

Iceland

Article 3

The President of Iceland shall be elected by the people.

Article 4

Any person who is thirty-five years of age and fulfils the requirements necessary to vote in elections to Althingi, with the exception of the residency requirement, is eligible to be elected President.

Article 5

The President shall be elected by direct, secret ballot of those who are eligible to vote in elections to Althingi. A presidential candidate shall be proposed by not less than 1500 voters and not more than 3000. The candidate, if there is more than one, who receives the most votes is duly elected President.* If there is only one candidate, he is duly elected without a vote.

Further provision shall be made by law for the candidature and election of the President, and it may be provided that a specific number of proposers shall be from each quarter of the country in proportion to the number of voters there.

Article 6

The President's term of office begins on the 1st of August and ends on the 31st of July four years later. The election of the President takes place in June or July of the year in which the term ends.

Article 7

If the President dies or resigns prior to the expiry of his term, a new President shall be elected for a period ending on the 31st of July of the fourth year from the election.

*Ie, the voting is by the "first past the post" system - or, as the Americans would say, the President is elected by "plurality" vote. President Grimsson was elected with only 41% of the vote in 1996 - but then he was re-elected unopposed in 2000 so the lack of an absolute majority doesn't seem to have affected his legitimacy.

Ireland

Article 12.

1. There shall be a President of Ireland (Uachtarán na hÉireann), hereinafter called the President, who shall take precedence over all other persons in the State and who shall exercise and perform the powers and functions conferred on the President by this Constitution and by law.

2.

1. The President shall be elected by direct vote of the people.
2. Every citizen who has the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Éireann shall have the right to vote at an election for President.
3. The voting shall be by secret ballot and on the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.*

3.

1. The President shall hold office for seven years from the date upon which he enters upon his office, unless [see Incapacity etc]
2. A person who holds, or who has held, office as President, shall be eligible for re-election to that office once, but only once.
3. An election for the office of President shall be held not later than, and not earlier than the sixtieth day before, the date of the expiration of the term of office of every President, but in the event of the removal from office of the President or of his death, resignation, or permanent incapacity established as aforesaid (whether occurring before or after he enters upon his office), an election for the office of President shall be held within sixty days after such event.

4.

1. Every citizen who has reached his thirty-fifth year of age is eligible for election to the office of President.
2. Every candidate for election, not a former or retiring President, must be nominated either by:
i. not less than twenty persons, each of whom is at the time a member of one of the Houses of the oireachtas or
ii. by the Councils of not less than four administrative Counties (including County Boroughs) as defined by law.
3. No person and no such Council shall be entitled to subscribe to the nomination of more than one candidate in respect of the same election.
4. Former or retiring Presidents may become candidates on their own nomination.
5. Where only one candidate is nominated for the office of President it shall not be necessary to proceed to a ballot for his election.

5. Subject to the provisions of this Article, elections for the office of President shall be regulated by law.

6.

1. The President shall not be a member of either House of the Oireachtas.
2. If a member of either House of the Oireachtas be elected President, he shall be deemed to have vacated his seat in that House.
3. The President shall not hold any other office or position of emolument.

*"Proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote" is a funny way to express it when there is only one person to be elected. It of course reduces, in this situation, to the preferential voting familiar to all Australians.

Portugal

Article 121
Election

1. The President of the Republic shall be elected by universal, direct and secret suffrage by the Portuguese citizens who are registered as voters in the national territory, as well as Portuguese citizens resident abroad, in accordance with the following section.

2. The law shall regulate the exercise of the right to vote held by Portuguese citizens resident abroad, taking account of the existence of effective links with the national community.

3. In the national territory the right to vote shall be exercised personally.

Article 122
Eligibility for election

Citizens of Portuguese origin who are entitled to vote and are at least 35 years of age are eligible for election.

Article 123
Re-election

1. No one shall be re-elected for a third consecutive term of office or during the 5 years immediately following the end of a second consecutive term of office.

2. If the President of the Republic resigns from office, he or she shall not stand as a candidate in the election that immediately follows nor in an election held in the 5 years immediately following the resignation.

Article 124
Nominations

1. Nominations for the office of President of the Republic require the support of a minimum of 7500, and a maximum of 15,000, citizens entitled to vote.

2. Nominations shall be submitted to the Constitutional Court at least 30 days before the date fixed for the election.

3. The election process shall be re-opened, under the conditions prescribed by law, if a candidate dies or for any reason becomes incapable of performing the functions of President of the Republic.

Article 125
Date of election

1. The President of the Republic shall be elected within the period of sixty days before the last day of the predecessor's term of office, or within the period of sixty days following the day on which the office falls vacant.

2. The election shall not be held in the period of 90 days that precedes or follows the date of an election for the Assembly of the Republic.

3. In the circumstances referred to in paragraph 2, the election shall be held in the period of ten days following the end of the period established therein and the term of office of the outgoing President shall be automatically extended for the appropriate period of time.

Article 126
Electoral system

1. The candidate who obtains more than half the votes validly cast shall be elected President of the Republic. Blank ballot papers shall not be considered to be validly cast.

2. If none of the candidates obtains that proportion of the votes, a second ballot shall be held until the 21st day after the date of the first ballot.

3. In a second ballot, only the two candidates who have obtained the most votes and have not withdrawn shall stand for election.

Article 128
Term of office

1. The President of the Republic shall hold office for 5 years; the term of office shall end on the installation of the newly elected President.

2. If the office falls vacant, the President of the Republic subsequently elected begins a new term of office.

Article 131
Resignation

1. The President of the Republic may resign from office by addressing a message to the Assembly of the Republic.

2. The resignation shall take effect when the message is made known to the Assembly of the Republic, subject to its subsequent publication in the Diário da República.


Back to Thinking About the Drafting
Compiled by John Pyke, with a little help from DiDa!. Posted 24th December 2003.