CHAPTER 6. HEAD OF STATE
33. PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
The head of the Republic shall be known as the President and shall symbolise the unity of the nation.
34. ELECTION OF PRESIDENT
- The President of the Republic shall be elected, in accordance with Schedule 1, by secret ballot by an electoral college consisting of Parliament and the Presidents of the Provincial Government Councils.
- When a vacancy in the office of the President of the Republic arises, election to that office shall be held within 3 weeks of the vacancy arising, or in the event of a vacancy arising when Parliament is dissolved, within 3 weeks after the first meeting of the new Parliament.
35. QUALIFICATIONS FOR ELECTION AS PRESIDENT
Any indigenous Vanuatu citizen qualified to be elected to Parliament shall be eligible for election as President of the Republic.
36. TERM OF OFFICE AND REMOVAL OF PRESIDENT
- The term of office of the President of the Republic shall be 5 years.
- The President of the Republic may be removed from office, only for gross misconduct or incapacity, by the electoral college provided for in Article 34 on a motion introduced by at least one-third of the members of the college and passed by at least two-thirds of its members, when at least three-fourths of its members, including at least three-fourths of the Presidents of the Provincial Government Councils, are present.
- At least 2 weeks notice of the motion provided for in subarticle (2) shall he given to the Speaker.
- If there is no quorum at the first sitting as provided in subarticle (2), the electoral college may meet and vote on the motion provided for in subarticle (2) a week later even if there is only a quorum of two-thirds of the members of the college.
37. SPEAKER TO ACT AS PRESIDENT
- Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the President of the Republic or the President is overseas or incapacitated, the Speaker of Parliament shall perform the functions of President under this Constitution and any other law.
- When Parliament is dissolved and there is a vacancy in the office of the President of the Republic or the President is overseas or incapacitated, the Speaker of Parliament at the time of the dissolution shall perform the functions of the President of the Republic under this Constitution and any other law until a new Speaker is elected.
38. PRESIDENTIAL POWERS OF PARDON,COMMUTATION AND REDUCTION OF SENTENCES
The President of the Republic may pardon, commute or reduce a sentence imposed on a person convicted of an offence. Parliament may provide for a committee to advise the President in the exercise of this function.
