Imperial Constitution

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Revision as of 10:18, 19 May 2010

Article. The legislative power shall be exercised by the General Assembly, which shall be composed of two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Article. The General Assembly is competent:

(1) To initiate and pass legislation on matters of national competence;
(2) To interpret, amend, and repeal existing legislation;
(3) To examine infractions of the Constitution and do what is necessary in order to make effective the responsibility of those who infringe it;
(4) To approve or disapprove treaties concluded with foreign governments;
(5) To approve, disapprove, or decrease the budgets of expenditures; to approve or disapprove, in whole or in part, the accounts presented by the executive power;
(6) To authorize the contraction of loans, or of any other kind of operations that may affect the credit and financial responsibility of the State;
(7) To decree general amnesties; and
(8) To delegate the legislative function to the executive power.

Article. The Chamber of Deputies shall consist of two hundred and fifty deputies elected by the system of integral proportional representation. The electoral circumscription is the province. The total number of members shall be distributed in accordance with the law, each circumscription being allotted a minimum initial representation and the remainder being distributed in proportion to the population.

Article. The Chamber of Deputies is elected for a term of four years and is renewed in full at the expiration of its mandate. However, should the Emperor make use of the authority conferred upon him by (number) of Article _____, the newly elected Chamber shall operate, in such case, only during the time left for the dissolved Chamber to complete its period.

Article. To be a deputy it is necessary to be a natural citizen in full exercise of civil rights, or a legal citizen who has exercised his civil rights for five years, and in both cases, to have attained twenty-five years of age.

Article. The Senate is composed of members appointed by the Emperor in the manner herein set forth.

Article. For purposes of appointing senators each province is divided into ten electoral circumscriptions. Each circumscription shall have one senator.

Article. Each circumscription shall elect senatorial candidates in the number and in the manner determined by law. One senator shall be appointed by the Emperor from a slate of the three candidates with the highest relative majorities in the circumscription.

Article. To be a senator it is necessary to be a natural citizen in full exercise of civil rights and to have attained forty years of age.

Article. The membership of the Senate also includes those Princes of the _____ Imperial House who have attained twenty-five years of age.

Article. Senators shall hold their positions in their own right for life, without prejudice that incompatibilities, incapacities and grounds for suspension described in this Constitution may be applied.

Article. The General Assembly shall begin its ordinary sessions on the 15th of March and adjourn on the 15th of December of each year.

At the opening of each ordinary session the Emperor shall give an account to the General Assembly in joint session of the administrative and political state of the Nation.

Article. The General Assembly shall hold extraordinary sessions when called by the Emperor, and when called by the President of the Senate at the written request of a majority of the members of the Chamber of Deputies or of the Senate.

When called by the Emperor it cannot transact any other legislative business than that mentioned in the call; but proposals of constitutional reform may be introduced, discussed and voted on, although they do not appear in the call.

When called by the President of the Senate, it may transact any business within its competency.

Article. The President of the Senate shall preside over the meetings of the Congress, but if he is unable to do so, the President of the Chamber of Deputies shall preside over them. In default of both, the Vice President of the Senate or of the Chamber of Deputies shall preside, in that order.

Article. The chambers shall open and close their sessions simultaneously and shall hold their sessions in such a way that the number held by either one shall not exceed the number held by the other by more than three, unless otherwise agreed upon by both.

Any action taken in either chamber in contravention of this provision is void.