Alternate Constitution
From Roach Busters
Article. The President of the Republic is the head of the State and personifies the Nation.
Article. The qualifications for being elected President of the Republic are the following:
(1) To be a _____ citizen by birth, in the full enjoyment of his rights, and the son of _____ parents by birth;
(2) To have attained forty years of age at the time of the election;
(3) To have resided in the country during the entire year prior to the day of the election;
(4) To have completed secondary education, or the equivalent thereof;
(5) To possess the moral and intellectual qualities that recommend him to hold the office;
(6) Never to have renounced his nationality at any time; and
(7) Not to be included within any of the grounds for incapacity indicated in Article _____.
Article. The President of the Republic shall be elected by direct ballot, with an absolute majority of the votes validly cast. The election shall be held at least six months prior to the end of the administration of the President of the Republic then holding office in the manner determined by law.
Should there be more than two candidates in the presidential election, none of them obtaining more than half of the votes validly cast, a new election shall be held within fifteen days following the proclamation of the official count. This election shall be limited to the two candidates with the highest relative majorities.
In relation to the provisions contained in the two preceding paragraphs, blank and null and void votes will be considered as if they had not been cast.
Article. There shall be a Vice President of the Republic, who shall be elected at the same time, in the same manner, with the same qualifications, and for the same term as the President.
Article. The term of the President of the Republic shall be five years and shall begin and end on the first of July, and no event whatever may extend his mandate.
Article. A citizen who has held the office of President of the Republic, by popular election or by appointment as ad interim, provisional, or substitute President, can in no case and for no reason again hold that office. This prohibition may not be modified or repealed. The author or authors of a proposal for modification or repeal, and those who support it, directly or indirectly, shall cease ipso facto in the occupation of their respective posts and shall be permanently incapacitated for the exercise of any public office.
Likewise, the following may not be elected President of the Republic:
(1) Relatives of the President of the Republic within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity;
(2) A military person who has been in active service within six months prior to the election;
(3) A Minister of State who has been in office at any time during the six months prior to the election;
(4) Persons who have held the position of magistrate of the courts and tribunals of justice at any time during the six months prior to the election;
(5) The leader and chiefs of a coup d'état, revolution, or other armed movement or their relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity for the period in which the constitutional regime was interrupted;
(6) Anyone who has been a Minister of State or held high military rank in a de facto government or his relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity, for the same periods indicated in the preceding paragraph; and
(7) A minister of any religious cult.
Article. The Presidency of the Republic is vacated, besides in case of death:
(1) By permanent physical or moral incapacity of the President of the Republic, declared by Congress;
(2) By the acceptance of his resignation;
(3) By a judicial sentence condemning him for the offenses enumerated in Article _____;
(4) By leaving the territory of the Republic for more than thirty days or during the last ninety days of his administration without the permission of the Senate; and
(5) By not returning to the territory of the Republic on the expiration of the permission granted to him by the Senate.
Article. The exercise of the Presidency of the Republic is suspended:
(1) By the President's commanding the armed forces in person;
(2) By the temporary physical incapacity of the President of the Republic declared by Congress; and
(3) By being brought to trial according to Article _____.
Article. In the cases of a vacancy indicated in Article _____ of the Constitution, the Vice President shall complete a term that has begun. In the cases indicated in Article _____, he shall only assume the office for such time as the impediment of the President persists.
Article. Only in the event of absence of the President and the Vice President shall the executive power be assumed by the Council of Ministers, until Congress elects a President for the remainder of the presidential term, in accordance with the provisions of Article _____ of the Constitution.
Article. In case of vacancy of the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the Republic, Congress shall elect the President for the rest of the presidential term.
If Congress is in session when a vacancy occurs, the election of the President shall be made within three days. If Congress is in recess, it must assemble in extraordinary session for the sole object of electing the President and receiving his oath. The election, in this case, shall be made within twenty days counting from that on which the vacancy occurred.
The convocation of Congress to assemble in extraordinary session to elect the President of the Republic is effected by the President of the Senate or, in default of the latter, by the President of the Chamber of Deputies.
The election of the President of the Republic by Congress shall be made by secret vote, in permanent and continuous session. The person obtaining an absolute majority of the votes shall be proclaimed elected.
Article. The President-elect shall take office before a formal joint session of Congress and shall take the following oath: "I, (name), swear before God and country that I will faithfully and patriotically discharge the office of president of the Republic of _____ and support and defend the Constitution and the laws. If I do not do this, may God and country hold me to account." If on the date established the Congress not succeed in forming a quorum in order to meet, the ceremony shall be held immediately before the Supreme Court of Justice.
Article. The President of the Republic shall present a message on the termination of his presidential term and on the inauguration of Congress in ordinary legislature. He may present messages at any time. The presidential messages must be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval.
Article. The President of the Republic, during his term of office, may be impeached only for treason to the country; for having prevented the presidential or parliamentary elections; for dissolving Congress, except in those cases provided for in Article ______; and for serious common crimes.
Article. The official office of the President of the Republic shall be in the Government House, and the National Treasury shall defray the expense of a residence for him that is in keeping with the dignity of his office. He shall be entitled to a salary, which may not be changed during his term of office, and during that term he may not engage in any other employment, nor devote himself to his profession, business or industry, nor receive any other emolument from the Republic.
Article. The President of the Republic may not leave the national territory without the permission of the Senate, which shall fix the period for which this is granted.
In no case may a President of the Republic against whom an impeachment is pending before the Senate leave the country. Neither may former Presidents of the Republic who are in similar circumstances leave the country.
Article. The President of the Republic may not personally command the armed forces without permission from the Senate. In the event of his commanding them, he shall have only the attributes of commander-in-chief, subject to the military laws and regulations, and shall be responsible in conformity with them.
Article. The President of the Republic has the following powers and duties:
(1) To represent the State at home and abroad;
(2) To comply with and enforce the Constitution and the laws;
(3) To maintain internal order and the external security of the Republic, without contravening the Constitution or the laws;
(4) To convoke, according to the Constitution, a general election for President of the Republic and for deputies and senators; and by-elections for deputies and senators;
(5) To convoke Congress to ordinary and extraordinary sessions;
(6) To attend the opening of Congress in ordinary session;
(7) To concur in the making of the laws according to the Constitution, to approve and to promulgate the same;
(8) To appoint and remove the President of the Council of Ministers and the Ministers of State, in conformity with the Constitution;
(9) To prescribe regulations, decrees, and instructions that he may deem suitable for the execution of the laws;
(10) To provide for the collection of the revenues of the Republic, decree the expenditures, and render accounts of them, in accordance with the General Budget of Revenues and Expenditures of the Republic and the laws;
(11) To command all branches of the armed forces, organize them, distribute them, and utilize them in conformity with the law;
(12) To direct wartime operations as commander-in-chief;
(13) To command in person the armed forces with the approval of the Senate. In this case the President of the Republic may reside at any place occupied by _____ arms;
(14) To commission officers of all branches of the armed forces up to and including the rank of lieutenant colonel or its equivalent and, with the approval of the Senate, the higher ranks. On the field of battle he may confer these superior military offices at his own instance;
(15) To appoint, remove, and grant leave of absence, in conformity with the law, to public officials and employees whose appointment or removal does not devolve on other officials or agencies;
(16) To grant, in conformity with the law, severance and retirement pensions and annuities;
(17) To watch over the ministerial conduct of the judges and other employees of the judicial power;
(18) To give to the judicial branch whatever assistance it may need for the expeditious exercise of its functions;
(19) To direct the foreign relations of the Republic;
(20) To receive chiefs of diplomatic missions of foreign countries and admit their consuls and to appoint ambassadors and ministers plenipotentiary of the foreign service of the Republic, with the approval of the Council of Ministers;
(21) To negotiate and sign, with the approval of the Council of Ministers, treaties of peace, friendship, commerce, navigation, alliance, boundaries, and neutrality, and concordats and other international agreements, and to ratify them after approval by the Senate;
(22) To declare war, with the authorization of Congress, and to negotiate peace;
(23) To commute sentences and grant private pardons, upon the report of the Supreme Court of Justice and in accordance with the law. Officials impeached by the Chamber of Deputies and tried by the Senate can be pardoned by Congress only. The President of the Republic may not exercise this power with respect to the Ministers of State;
(24) To grant for outstanding merit, with the approval of the Council of Ministers, the decorations, medals, diplomas, and prizes that are established by law; and
(25) To exercise the other functions of government and administration which the Constitution and the laws entrust to him.
