TITLE III. EXECUTIVE POWER
ARTICLE 41
The President of the Republic shall be the Chief of State. He shall be elected by the Nation and shall embody the national unity.
He shall be the guarantor of national independence, of territorial integrity, and of respect for the Constitution, treaties and international agreements.
ARTICLE 42
The President of the Republic shall be elected by direct universal suffrage for a mandate of five years, renewable only one time.
In any case, no one shall be able to exercise more than two presidential mandates.
ARTICLE 43
The election of the President of the Republic shall take place with a uninominal majority ballot in two rounds.
ARTICLE 44
No one may be a candidate for the office of President of the Republic unless:
- He is of Béninese nationality at birth or shall have acquired it for at least ten years;
He is of good morality and of great honesty; He enjoys all his civil and political rights; He is at least 40 years old but not more than 70 years old at the date of the filing of his candidacy; He resides in the territory of the Republic of Bénin at the time of the elections; He enjoys a satisfactory state of physical and mental well-being duly verified by a collegiate board of three doctors sworn and designated by the Constitutional Court.
ARTICLE 45
The President of the Republic shall be elected by an absolute majority of votes cast. If that shall not be obtained in the first round of voting, it shall be followed, after a delay of fifteen days, by a second round.
The only ones who may be presented in the second round of balloting shall be the two candidates who shall have received the greatest number of votes in the first round. In case of the withdrawal of one or both of the two candidates, the next ones shall be presented in the order of their filing after the first balloting.
The candidate having received the relative majority of votes cast in the second round shall be declared elected.
ARTICLE 46
The convocation of the electors shall be made by a decree issued in the Council of Ministers.
ARTICLE 47
The first round of balloting for the election of the President of the Republic shall take place at least thirty days and at most forty days before the expiration date of the powers of the President in office.
The mandate of the new President of the Republic shall take effect by counting from the expiration date of the mandate of his predecessor.
ARTICLE 48
The law shall fix the conditions of eligibility, of the presentation of the candidates, of the progress of the balloting, of the counting of the votes and of the proclamation of the results of the election of the President of the Republic.
The law shall fix the civil list of the President of the Republic and shall determine the pension to be allocated to the former Presidents of the Republic.
However, in order to be counted from the promulgation of the present Constitution, only the constitutionally elected Presidents of the Republic shall be able to benefit from the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
ARTICLE 49
The Constitutional Court shall watch over the regularity of the balloting and shall verify its results.
The election of the President of the Republic shall be made the subject of a provisional proclamation.
If any dispute relating to the regularity of the electoral operations shall not have been filed in the Office of the Clerk of the Court by one of the candidates within five days of the provisional proclamation, the Court shall declare the President of the Republic definitely elected.
In case of a dispute, the Court must decide within ten days of the provisional proclamation; its decision shall convey the final proclamation of or the annulment of the election.
If no dispute has been raised within the waiting period of five days and if the Constitutional Court shall deem that the election has not been tainted by any irregularity of a nature to bring about an annulment, it shall proclaim the election of the President of the Republic within the fifteen days following the balloting.
In case of annulment, a new round of balloting shall proceed within fifteen days of the decision.
ARTICLE 50
In case of vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic by death, resignation or permanent impediment, the National Assembly shall reconvene in order to rule on the case with an absolute majority of its members. The President of the National Assembly shall refer the matter to the Constitutional Court which shall certify it and declare the vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic. The duties of President of the Republic, with the exception of those mentioned in Articles 54 paragraph 3, 58 [typographical error: “50” in French text below-ed.], 60, 101, and 154 shall be temporarily exercised by the President of the National Assembly.
The election of a new President of the Republic shall take place thirty days at the least and forty days at most after the declaration of the permanent nature of the vacancy.
In case of bringing an accusation of the President of the Republic before the High Court of Justice, his interim shall be assumed by the President of the Constitutional Court who shall exercise all the duties of President of the Republic with the exception of those mentioned in Articles 54 paragraph 3, 58, 60, 101 and 154.
In case of absence from the territory, of illness and of vacation of the President of the Republic, his interim shall be assumed by a member of the Government whom he shall have designated and within the limitation of powers that he shall have delegated to him.
ARTICLE 51
The duties of the President of the Republic shall be incompatible with the exercise of any other elected office, of all public employment-civil or military, and of all professional activity.
ARTICLE 52
In the course of their duties, the President of the Republic and the members of the Government may not by themselves, nor by an intermediary, purchase or take a lease on anything that pertains to the domain of the State without prior authorization of the Constitutional Court under conditions fixed by law.
They shall be bound then, from their entry into office and to the end of it, to make on their honor a written declaration of their assets and inheritance addressed to the Committee of Accounts of the Supreme Court.
They may not take part in the buying of supplies and in the awarding of contracts for the administration or institutions within the jurisdiction of the State or submitted to their control.
ARTICLE 53
Before taking his office, the President of the Republic shall take the following oath:
“Before God, the Manes [spirits] of the ancestors, the Nation and before the Béninese People, the only holder of sovereignty;
“I, President of the Republic, elected in accordance with the laws of the Republic do solemnly swear
- To respect and defend the Constitution which the Béninese People have freely given to themselves;
To fulfil loyally the high office that the Nation has entrusted to me; To allow myself to be guided only by the general interest and the respect for human rights to consecrate all my strength to the research and the promotion of the common good, of peace and of national unity; To preserve the integrity of the national territory; To conduct myself everywhere as a faithful and loyal servant of the people.
In case of perjury, that I shall submit to the severity of the law.”
This oath shall be received by the President of the Constitutional Court before the National Assembly and the Supreme Court.
ARTICLE 54
The President of the Republic shall be the holder of executive power. He shall be the head of the Government, and with this title he shall determine and conduct the politics of the Nation. He shall exercise statutory power.
He shall have the Civil Service and the Armed Forces at his disposal. He shall be responsible for the National Defense.
He shall appoint, after an advisory opinion of the National Assembly, the members of the Government; he shall fix their prerogatives and shall bring an end to their duties.
The members of the Government shall be responsible to him.
The duties of the members of the Government shall be incompatible with the exercise of any parliamentary mandate, with any public employment-civil or military, and with any professional activity.
The acts of the President of the Republic other than those provided for in Articles 60 and 115 shall be countersigned by the Ministers charged with their execution.
ARTICLE 55
The President of the Republic shall preside over the Council of Ministers.
The Council of Ministers shall deliberate obligatorily on:
- Decisions determining the general policies of the State;
Government bills; Ordinances and regulatory decrees.
ARTICLE 56
The President of the Republic shall appoint three of the seven members of the Constitutional Court.
After advice from the President of the National Assembly, he shall appoint from the Council of Ministers: the President of the Supreme Court, the President of the High Authority of Audio-Visuals and Communications, and the Grand Chancellor of the National Order.
He shall appoint likewise from the Council of Ministers: members of the Supreme Court, Ambassadors, special envoys, Magistrates, general and superior officials, and the high office-holders whose list shall be fixed by an organic law.
ARTICLE 57
The President of the Republic shall have the initiative of laws concurrently with the members of the National Assembly.
He shall assure the promulgation of laws within the fifteen days following their transmission to him by the President of the National Assembly.
This time limit shall be reduced to five days in case of an emergency declared by the National Assembly.
He shall be able, before the expiration of these waiting periods, to demand of the National Assembly a second deliberation of the law or of certain of its articles. This second deliberation may not be refused.
If the National Assembly shall be at the end of the session, this second deliberation shall take place automatically at the time of the following regular session.
The vote for this second deliberation shall be acquired by the absolute majority of members composing the National Assembly. If, after this last vote, the President of the Republic shall refuse to promulgate the law, the Constitutional Court upon a submission by the President of the National Assembly shall declare the law enforceable if it is in accordance with the Constitution.
The same procedure for implementation shall be followed when, at the expiration of the deadline of fifteen days for promulgation provided for in paragraph 2 of the present article, there is neither promulgation nor demand for a second reading.
ARTICLE 58
The President of the Republic, after consultation with the President of the National Assembly and the President of the Constitutional Court, shall be able to take the initiative of the referendum on any question relative to the promotion of and the reinforcement of human rights, to sub-regional or regional integration, and to the organization of public authorities.
ARTICLE 59
The President of the Republic shall insure the execution of the laws and shall guarantee that by judicial decisions.
ARTICLE 60
The President of the Republic shall have the power of pardon. He shall exercise this right under the conditions defined by Article 130.
ARTICLE 61
The President of the Republic shall accredit the ambassadors and special envoys to foreign powers; the ambassadors and special envoys of the foreign powers shall be accredited to him.
ARTICLE 62
The President of the Republic shall be the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
He shall appoint from the Council of Ministers the members of the Superior Council of Defense and shall preside at the meetings of the said Council.
The composition, the organization and the operation of the Superior Council of Defense shall be fixed by a law.
ARTICLE 63
The President of the Republic may, in addition to the specialized functions of the defense of territorial integrity vested in the Armed Forces, have them cooperate in the economic development of the Nation and in any other tasks of public interest under the conditions defined by the law.
ARTICLE 64
Any member of the Armed Forces or the Public Security who shall desire to be a candidate for the office of President of the Republic must first send in his resignation from the Armed Forces or the Public Security.
In this case, the interested person will be able to claim the benefits of the rights acquired in accordance with the regulations of his corps.
ARTICLE 65
Any attempt to overthrow the constitutional regime by the personnel of the Armed Forces or of the Public Security shall be considered as a breach of duty and a crime against the Nation and the State and will be punished in accordance with the law.
ARTICLE 66
In case of a coup d’Etat, of a putsch, of aggression by mercenaries or of any action by force whatsoever, any member of a constitutional agency shall have the right and the duty to make an appeal by any means in order to re-establish the constitutional legitimacy, including recourse to existing agreements of military or defense cooperation.
In these circumstances for any Béninese to disobey and organize himself to put a check to the illegitimate authority shall constitute the most sacred of rights and the most imperative of duties.
ARTICLE 67
The President of the Republic may not make an appeal to any foreign Armed Forces or Police to intervene in an internal conflict except in the cases provided for in Article 66.
ARTICLE 68
When the institutions of the Republic, the independence of the Nation, the integrity of the national territory or the execution of international commitments shall be threatened in a serious and immediate manner, and when the regular operation of political and constitutional powers shall be threatened or interrupted; the President of the Republic, after consultation with the President of the National Assembly and the President of the Constitutional Court, shall take within the Council of Ministers the exceptional measures required by the circumstances without which the rights of the citizens guaranteed by the Constitution would be suspended.
He shall inform the Nation of this by a message.
The National Assembly shall reconvene in full session in an extraordinary session.
ARTICLE 69
The measures taken ought to be inspired by the intention to assure to the public and constitutional authorities the means to accomplish their mission with the least delay.
The National Assembly shall fix the deadline for the time limits beyond which the President of the Republic may not take exceptional measures.
ARTICLE 70
The President of the Republic may delegate to Ministers certain of his powers except those provided for in Articles 54 paragraph 3, 60, 61, 101, 115, 133 and 144.
ARTICLE 71
The President of the Republic or any member of his Government in the exercise of his governmental office may be interpellated by the National Assembly.
The President of the Republic shall respond to these interpellations in the presence of the National Assembly in person or by one of his ministers that he shall especially delegate.
In that circumstance, the National Assembly may bring a resolution in order to make recommendations to the Government.
ARTICLE 72
The President of the Republic shall address a message to the National Assembly on the state of the Nation once a year.
He may also, at any time, address messages to the National Assembly. These messages shall not give way to any debate; however, they may suggest tasks for the Assembly.
ARTICLE 73
The personal responsibility of the President of the Republic shall be pledged in case of high treason, of an insult to the Assembly or of an insult to his honor and probity.
ARTICLE 74
There shall be high treason when the President of the Republic shall have violated his oath; shall be acknowledged as author, co-author, or accomplice in grave violations characterized in the Rights of Man [Droits de l’Homme] or of the transfer of a part of the national territory; or of an act detrimental to the maintenance of a healthy, satisfying, lasting environment favorable for development.
ARTICLE 75
There shall be an attack on his honor and on his probity notably when the personal behavior of the President of the Republic shall be contrary to good manners or when he shall be acknowledged as author, co-author or accomplice in embezzlement, corruption, or illegal enrichment.
ARTICLE 76
There shall be an insult to the National Assembly when, to questions posed by the National Assembly concerning governmental activity, the President of the Republic shall not furnish any response within a period of thirty days.
ARTICLE 77
After this deadline, the President of the National Assembly shall submit this grave shortcoming to the Constitutional Court for constitutional action.
The Constitutional Court shall decide within three days. The President of the Republic shall be required to furnish the responses to the National Assembly within the shortest period of time, and in all cases before the end of the current session.
At the expiration of this period, if there has been no follow-up given by the President of the Republic to the decision of the Court, the President of the Republic shall be impeached before the High Court of Justice for insult to the National Assembly.
ARTICLE 78
The acts anticipated in Articles 74 and 75 shall be prosecuted and punished according to the provisions of Articles 136 to 138 of the present Constitution.
