PART IV. THE EXERCISE AND ORGANIZATION OF POLITICAL POWER
TITLE I. FORMS OF EXERCISE OF POLITICAL POWER
CHAPTER I. GENERAL COMMON PRINCIPLES
Article 100. Election Registration
To exercise the right to vote or be elected to any political office, a citizen must be validly registered on the date of the elections or the declaration of candidacy.
Registration shall be official, compulsory, permanent, and personal for all elections by universal, direct, secret suffrage, and must correspond at all times to the electoral population.
Every citizen shall have the right to register, to verify his registration, and in case of error to request a correction, as provided by law.
Registration of electors must be carried out by the appropriate registration office.
Political parties may cooperate with registration commissions, supervise registration activity, request information, obtain copies of electoral rolls, present their claims, and make protestations and counter-protestations, according to law.
There shall be a law to regulate election registration.
Article 101. Jurisdiction Over the Election Process
Courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction in judging the regularity and validity of the electoral process.
Article 102. Election Law
During the period from one year before the election to any political office until the verification of the results, the respective electoral law may not be altered or revoked.
Article 103. Election Campaigns
Candidates, political parties, and groups of independent citizens who run for office shall have the right to campaign, including campaign literature, in the electoral districts in which they run.
The election campaign period shall be established by law.
Citizens shall have the right to participate actively in election campaigns.
Expression of ideas and political, economic, and social principles may not be limited during election campaigns, without ruling out possible civil or criminal responsibility.
The electoral law shall regulate election campaigns based on principles of freedom of publicity; equal opportunity and equal treatment of all candidates; impartiality of all public entities toward the candidacies; and supervision of electoral accounting.
Article 104. Supervision of Election Operations
The voting process and verification of the votes shall be supervised by candidates, political parties, and competing political forces through delegates appointed by them for each election.
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Voting shall be secret and no one may be forced to reveal the direction of his vote.
Each voter may vote only once.
Article 106. Election Districts
For the election of the President of the Republic, the national territory shall constitute one electoral district, with one electoral college.
For the election of Deputies in the National Assembly, the national territory shall be divided into electoral districts, to be defined by law, with an electoral college for each one.
Outside the national territory, electoral districts shall be defined by law, but their headquarters shall be in the city of Praia.
Article 107. Voters Living Abroad
Voters residing abroad shall be integrated into electoral colleges corresponding to the electoral districts where they are registered.
CHAPTER II. THE REFERENDUM
Article 108. General and Common Principles
Voters registered in the national territory shall have the right to be heard on questions of national or local interest through referenda.
Referenda may not be called or held during the period between the calling of elections by national or local bodies and the election date; during a state of emergency and for thirty days following the end of martial law or a state of emergency, and in the latter case, only in the part of the territory declared to be in a state of emergency.
Each referendum shall have as an object only one question; the following questions may never be submitted to popular referendum:
Separation and interdependence of national bodies and their authority;
Independence of courts and their decisions;
Separation of Church and State;
Designation of elected national and local officials by universal, direct, secret, periodic suffrage;
Pluralism in expression, the existence of political parties and associations, and the right to opposition;
Constitutionally established rights, liberties, and guarantees;
National or local budget, tax, or financial laws;
Autonomy of local authorities, as well as the organization and authority of these bodies;
Referendum questions shall be submitted for prior approval as to constitutionality and legality.
Questions judged unconstitutional or illegal may not be submitted to referendum or resubmitted during the same legislative session.
Questions rejected by the competent authority or by the voters also may not be resubmitted during the same legislative session.
The results of a referendum shall be applicable to all political bodies and all public and private entities.
The provisions of Articles 100 to 105 shall be applicable to referenda and their necessary adaptations.
Questions to be submitted to voters must be formulated with simplicity, objectivity, precision, and clarity, without suggestion of a response; the response must be yes or no.
Article 109. National Referenda
National referenda shall be called by the President of the Republic, by popular initiative, by the National Assembly or by the Government.
By popular initiative, the President of the Republic may call for a referendum on any subject of relevant national interest, at the request of 30,000 citizens, with the agreement of the National Assembly and the Council of the Republic.
The request referred to in the preceding paragraph must be approved by at least ten percent of the resident voters in not less than seven islands.
The proposition to the National Assembly must be approved by two-thirds of the Deputies present and a majority of the Deputies currently in office.
Article 110. Local Referenda
Local referenda may be held on questions under the exclusive authority of autonomous bodies.
Local referenda may be called by the President of the Municipal Chamber upon the initiative of the Chamber, the Municipal Assembly, or not less than ten percent of the registered voters in the local area where the referendum is to be held.
The calling of the referendum must be approved by two-thirds of the current members of the Municipal Assembly.
CHAPTER III. SUFFRAGE
SECTION I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Article 111. Exercise of Political Power Through Suffrage
In the exercise of political power, the people shall designate office holders by universal, direct, secret, periodic suffrage.
Article 112. Conversion of Votes
The conversion of votes in each electoral college shall be in accordance with the principle of proportional representation.
Except for the provision of paragraph (1), the conversion of votes shall be by executive bodies of the electoral college, for which principles shall be established by law.
Article 113. Presentation of Candidates
Candidacies shall be presented, individually or in coalitions, by political parties, from among registered voters and, in local elections, by groups of citizens.
Parties, coalitions, and groups of citizens may not present more than one list of candidates in each electoral district.
No one may be a candidate in more than one district or appear on more than one list, under penalty of ineligibility.
Article 114. Immunity of Candidates
No candidate may be subject to preventive detention, except in the case of flagrant offense, for a crime whose maximum penalty shall be more than two years imprisonment and, aside from flagrante delicto, for a crime whose maximum penalty shall be more than eight years imprisonment.
If a candidate is indicted, the trial may only proceed after the proclamation of the election results.
Article 115. Elections
Voting for elected officials shall be on a date set in accordance with the Constitution and the law; election day must be the same in all electoral districts, except in cases provided by law.
In the act dissolving the electoral colleges, the date for new elections must be set; they shall take place within 120 days under the electoral law in effect at the time of dissolution.
Article 116. Equal Treatment
Parties, coalitions, and groups of citizens, as well as the candidates proposed by them, shall have the right to equal treatment by public entities to have the best conditions for an election campaign.
SECTION II. ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
Article 117. Election
The President of the Republic shall be elected by universal, direct, secret suffrage, by registered voters in the national territory and abroad, as provided by law.
For purposes of the election of the President of the Republic, each registered voter abroad shall have one vote, with the total of these votes not to exceed one-fifth of the verified votes in the national territory.
If the total of votes from registered voters abroad exceeds the limit referred to in the preceding paragraph, it must be converted to a number equal to that limit and the total of votes obtained by each candidate will be converted in proportion.
A special law shall regulate the election of the President of the Republic.
Article 118. Eligibility
To be elected President of the Republic, the candidate must be a native-born Cape Verdian voter, at least thirty-five years of age at the date of candidacy, and have been a permanent resident in the national territory for three years immediately preceding that date.
From the public announcement of candidacy, to the date of withdrawal or the official proclamation of the election results, no candidate may exercise any public office, nor the post of Attorney General, or Chief or Vice-Chief of the Armed Forces.
In the event referred to in the preceding paragraph, the candidate shall be automatically suspended from the exercise of his duties, which shall be temporarily assumed by a substitute; the candidate may resume that office without any formality, from the date of his withdrawal or if he is not elected.
During the period of suspension of duties, the candidate shall continue to receive his salary, and he will not lose service time for retirement or any other purposes.
Article 119. Candidates
Candidacies for President of the Republic must be proposed by a minimum of 1,000 and a maximum of 4,000 voters and presented to the Supreme Court of Justice not later than sixty days before the election date.
Where there are only two candidates, in the event of the death or incapacity of one of them for the exercise of Presidential duties, during the first balloting, the following process shall be observed:
If the death or incapacity referred to above occurs before the voting, the election process will be reopened as provided by law;
If the death or incapacity occurs after the voting, the election process will be reopened only if the other candidate has not obtained a majority of the votes as provided in Article 121 (1).
Article 120. Date of Election
The President of the Republic shall be elected between the 40th and 25th day prior to the end of the term of the outgoing President.
In case of vacancy in the office, the new President of the Republic must be elected within 90 days after the vacancy.
Article 121. Election Procedures
The President of the Republic shall be the candidate who receives a majority of the votes validly cast, with blank ballots not counting.
If no candidate receives a majority of votes, a second ballot will be held two weeks after the first; the two candidates receiving the most votes on the first ballot shall compete.
In the event of the death or incapacity of one of the candidates on the second ballot, the provisions of Article 119 (2) (a) and (b) will be observed.
In the event of the reopening of the election process at the second ballot, under the provisions of Article 119 (2) (a) and (b), the candidate will be asked to compete who immediately followed according to the electoral results.
At the second ballot, the withdrawal of either candidate shall lead to the reopening of the electoral process if it is declared within forty-eight hours after the proclamation of the results of the first ballot.
If there are no other candidates who, under the provisions of (4), may be admitted to the second ballot, or in case the withdrawal of one of the other candidates is after the time referred to in (5), the other candidate shall be declared immediately elected.
SECTION III. ELECTION OF DEPUTIES TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Article 122. Voting for Lists
Deputies shall be elected from lists in each electoral college; the voter shall vote for one name on the list.
The number of candidates on each list proposed for election must equal the number of seats attributed to the respective electoral college.
The number of substitute candidates must be, at a maximum, equal to the number of seats attributed to the respective electoral college and cannot be less than three.
The number of deputies for each electoral college shall be proportional to the number of registered voters, but not less than a minimum established by law and as provided in Article 153 (2).
Article 123. Distribution of Seats According to Lists
On each list the candidates shall be ranked in the order of precedence indicated on the respective declaration of candidacy, and seats shall be attributed by that order of precedence.
Article 124. Conditions of Eligibility
Cape Verdian voters shall be eligible except for ineligibilities provided by law.
CHAPTER IV. POLITICAL PARTIES
Article 125. Relationship between Parties and Denominations
Political parties shall compete democratically for the political support of the people and to organize political power.
Political parties may not adopt names which, directly or indirectly, are identified with any part of the national territory, with a church, religion, or religious doctrine, or that may evoke the name of a person or institution; they may not adopt emblems which are the same as, or might be confused with, national or regional symbols.
Article 126. Prohibition of Parties with Regional or Local Objectives
It is prohibited to form political parties of regional or local scope, with regional or local objectives, which intend to use subversive or violent means in the pursuit of their ends, or which have a paramilitary nature.
Political parties must respect national independence and unity, territorial integrity, the democratic regime, the multiparty system, and the rights and fundamental liberties of the individual.
Article 127. Barring of Parties
Political parties may only be barred by judicial decision and in cases established by law.
Article 128. Benefits
The law shall regulate the benefits attributed to political parties by the State and shall establish rules and constitutional precepts relative to political parties.
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