International assistance

The role of international or external support for national processes of constitution building has an instrumental impact on the design of these processes and the institutional choices that ultimately are framed in constitutions.

More Policy papers Support mapping

Training programme

The new Constitution Builders CONNECT Resource – is an interactive training tool that reinforces sharing experiences as a means to building the capacity of practitioners to solve some of the dilemmas that they face in constitution building.

More

Handbook

The Handbook reviews and discusses some of the institutional and procedural design choices that practitioners have recently considered during contemporary constitution building.

More Table of contents

Issue papers

Selected issues are considered at length based on emerging and ongoing dialogues among practitioners and specialists.

More

Multimedia

A collection of multimedia resources from and about constitution-building processes.

More Audio Video Photos

Web links

The web links provide a comprehensive list of relevant organizations and partners working in constitution building and related subjects.

List
§ Note: this is background material. The final handbook is available online in PDF format.
A legislative body which is entirely elected has a greater degree of independence than bodies in which members are appointed by other branches. Freedom from executive appointments therefore represents a high degree of power in a legislature. Some constitutions allow the executive to appoint members to legislative chambers that are largely ceremonial. However, these appointments do not indicate a decrease in the autonomy of the legislature if the members do not have legislative power. Likewise, the appointment of nonvoting members of legislature does not serve indicate a decrease in legislative power. Instead, this section focuses only on appointments made to legislative chambers that exercise legislative powers and are mainly representative bodies elected by the people.
No Appointed Members
In some countries, all members of the legislature are elected. More information

Provisions

Constitution of the Republic of Haiti (1987, as Amended 1991)ARTICLE 89 The House of Deputies is a body composed of members elected by direct suffrage by the citizens and is responsible for exercising, on their behalf and in concert with the Senate, the functions of the legislative branch. ARTICLE 94: The Senate is a body composed of members elected by direct suffrage of the citizens and charged with exercising on their behalf, in concert with the House of Deputies, the duties of the Legislative Branch.

Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique (1990)Article 1341. The Assembly of the Republic shall be elected by direct universal suffrage and personal secret ballot.2. The Assembly of the Republic shall consist of a minimum of 200 and a maximum of 250 deputies.3. The term of office of deputies elected to the Assembly of the Republic is 5 years.

The Permanent Constitution of the Republic of Iraq (2005) Article 47(1) The Council of Representatives shall consist of a number of members at a ratio of one (1) representative per one hundred thousand (100,000) Iraqis, representing the entire Iraqi people. The members shall be elected by direct, secret and general ballot. The representation of all components of the [Iraqi] people in [the ballot] shall be maintained.

The Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (1983, as Amended to 2002)Article 531. The members of both Chambers are elected by proportional representation within the limits laid down by law.2. Elections are by secret ballot.

Guaranteed Seats
Some legislatures have guaranteed seats for former heads of state or for other lifetime appointments. Where the number of such seats is small, or where the appointments are made to a chamber that does not have substantial legislative powers, these provisions do not strongly indicate a decrease in legislative strength. More information

Provisions

The Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2005)Article 104: The former elected Presidents of the Republic are by law Senators for life.

The Coordinate Constitution of the Kingdom of Belgium (1994, as Amended to March 26, 2005)Article 72The children of the King or, in their absence, the Belgian descendants of the branch of the Royal Family that is called to reign, are Senators as of right at the age of eighteen (18). They are only entitled to vote once they attain the age of twenty-one (21). They are not taken into account for the determination of a quorum.

The Constitution of the Italian Republic (1948, as Amended to 2003)Article 56: The Chamber of Deputies is elected by universal and direct suffrage.Article 59: Anyone who has been the President of the Republic is a Senator by right and for life unless [the position] is refused.The President of the Republic may nominate [as] Senators for life five citizens who have brought honor to the Fatherland through their outstanding achievements in social, scientific, artistic and literary fields.

Some Members Appointed
Under other constitutional provisions, the executive may have the power to appoint a significant proportion of the members of the legislature. Where the appointments are made to a unicameral chamber or, in a bicameral system, to the chamber which exercises significant legislative powers, these appointments represent a weakening of power in the legislative branch. More information

Provisions

The Constitution of the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Republic of Kenya (1963, as Amended to 2008)<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Article 31. Composition of National Assembly.

Subject to this Constitution, the National Assembly shall consist of elected members elected in accordance with section 32, nominated members appointed in accordance with section 33 and the ex officio members.

Article 33. Nominated members.

(1) Subject to this section, there shall be twelve nominated members of the National Assembly appointed by the President following a general election, to represent special interests.

(2) The persons to be appointed shall be persons who, if they had been nominated for a parliamentary election, would be qualified to be elected as members of the National Assembly.

(3) The persons to be appointed shall be nominated by the parliamentary parties according to the proportion of every parliamentary party in the National Assembly, taking into account the principle of gender equality.

(4) The proportions under subsection (3) shall be determined by the Electoral Commission after every general election and shall be signified by the chairman of the Commission to the leaders of the concerned parliamentary parties, the President and the Speaker.

(5) The names of the nominees of parliamentary parties shall be forwarded to the President through the Electoral Commission who shall ensure observance of the principle of gender equality in the nominations.The Constitution of the Gambia (1996)Article 88. Members of The National Assembly(1) Members of the National Assembly shall comprise the following—(a) thirty-nine members elected from the Chieftaincy Districts, each of which district shall constitute a constituency;(b) three members elected from the constituencies in Banjul, namely, Banjul North, Banjul South and Banjul Central;(c) three members elected from the constituencies in the Kanifing Municipality, namely, Serrekunda West, Serrekunda East and Bakau; and(d) four members nominated by the President.

»