TITLE III. OF THE PRESIDENT OF FASO
Article 36
The President of Faso is the Head of the State.
He sees to the respect of the Constitution.
He establishes the principal orientations of the policy of the State.
He incarnates and assures the national unity.
He is the guarantor of the national independence, of the integrity of the territory, of the permanence and of the continuity of the State, [and] of respect for agreements and treaties.
Article 37
The President of Faso is elected by universal, direct, equal and secret suffrage for a mandate of five years.
He is re-eligible one sole time.
In no case, no one may exercise more than two mandates of President of Faso consecutively or intermittently.
Article 38
Every candidate to the functions of President of Faso must be Burkinabè by birth, be thirty-five years of age at least and of seventy-five years [of age] at most at the date of deposit of his candidature[,] and meeting the conditions required by the law.
Article 39
The President of Faso is elected by the absolute majority of the suffrage expressed.
If this majority is not obtained in the first round of the ballot, it proceeds fifteen (15) days later to a second round. Only the two candidates can present themselves who, as the case may be, after withdrawal of the less favored candidates, are found to have received the greatest number of votes at the first round; the President of Faso is then elected by simple majority.
Article 40
The elections are set twenty-one days at least and forty days at most before the expiration of the mandate of the President in office.
Article 41
The law determines the procedure, the conditions of eligibility and of presentation of the candidatures to the presidential elections, of the conduct of the ballot, of the counting and of the proclamation of the results. It specifies all the provisions required so that the elections will be free, honest and regular.
Article 42
The functions of the President of Faso are incompatible with the exercise of all other elective mandate of national level, of any public employment and of any professional activity.
The provisions of Articles 72, 73, 74 and 75 of this Constitution are applicable to the President of Faso.
Article 43
While the President of Faso is incapacitated in a temporary manner [fagon] from fulfilling his functions, his powers are provisionally exercised by the Prime Minister.
In case of vacancy of the Presidency of Faso for any cause that may be, or of absolute or definitive incapacity declared by the Constitutional Council, referred to [the matter] by the Government, the functions of the President of Faso are exercised by the President of the National Assembly. It proceeds to the election of a new President for a new period of five years.
The election of the new President takes place sixty days at least and ninety days at most after [the] official declaration of the vacancy or of the definitive character of the incapacity.
In all cases, application may not be made of Articles 46, 49, 50, 59, and 161 of this Constitution during the vacancy of the Presidency.
Article 44
Before entering into [his] functions, the President elected swears before the Constitutional Council the following oath: “I swear before the Burkinabè people and on my honor to preserve, to respect, to have respected and to defend the Constitution and the laws, and to implement it to guarantee justice to all the inhabitants of Burkina Faso.”
In the course of the ceremony of investiture, the President of the Constitutional Council receives the written declaration of the assets of the President of Faso.
The President of the Constitutional Council transmits [a] copy of the said [ladite] declaration to the Superior Authority of Control of State and of Combat [lutte/struggle] Against Corruption within a time period of seven days.
This declaration is published in the Journal Officiel [Official Gazette] within a time period of fifteen days.
Article 45
The law establishes the civil list of service to the President of Faso.
The law organizes the service of a pension in favor of former Presidents.
Article 46
The President of Faso appoints the Prime Minister from among the majority of the National Assembly and terminates his functions, either on the presentation by him of his resignation, or on his own authority [chef] in the superior interest of the Nation.
On the proposal of the Prime Minister, he appoints the other members of the Government and terminates their functions.
Article 47
The President of Faso presides over the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister substitutes for him with the conditions established by this Constitution.
Article 48
The President of Faso promulgates the law within the twenty-one days which follow the transmission of the text definitively adopted. This time period is reduced to eight days in case of urgency declared by the National Assembly.
The President of Faso can, during the time period of promulgation, demand a second reading of the law or of certain of its articles; the demand may not be refused. This procedure suspends the time periods of promulgation.
In default of promulgation within the time periods required, the law enters automatically into force following [the] declaration of the Constitutional Council referred to [the matter] to that effect.
Article 49
The President of Faso can, after [the] opinion of the Prime Minister and of the President of the National Assembly, submit to referendum any bill of the law that he deems [as] requiring direct consultation of the People with the exception of any revision of this Constitution which is still governed by the procedure specified in Tile XV.
In [the] case of the adoption of the said law, it proceeds to its promulgation in the time periods specified in Article 48.
Article 50
The President of Faso can, after consultation of the Prime Minister and of the President of the National Assembly, declare the dissolution of the National Assembly.
In [the] case of dissolution, the legislative elections take place sixty days at least and ninety days at most after the dissolution.
It may not proceed to a new dissolution in the year which follows these elections.
The dissolved National Assembly may not meet.
However, the mandate of the Deputies only expires at the date of validation of the mandate of the members of the new National Assembly.
Article 51
The President of Faso communicates with the National Assembly, either in person, or by the messages which he has read by the President of the National Assembly and which do not give rise to any debate. Out of session, the National Assembly meets specially to this effect.
Article 52
The President of Faso is the Supreme Head of the National Armed Forces; in this capacity, he presides over the Superior Council of Defense.
He appoints the Major General Head of State of the Armies.
Article 53
The President of Faso communicates with the Superior Council of the Magistrature, either in person, or by the messages which he has read by the President of the Superior Council of the Magistrature.
Article 54
The President of Faso exercises the right of pardon. He proposes the laws of amnesty.
Article 55
The President of Faso appoints to the offices [emplois] of the high civil and military administration[,] as well as in the societies and enterprises of strategic character determined by the law.
He appoints the ambassadors and the extraordinary envoys to foreign countries and to international organizations.
The foreign ambassadors and extraordinary envoys are accredited to him.
He appoints the Grand Chancellor of the Order Burkinabè [Grand Chancelier des Ordres burkinabè].
A law determines the functions or offices for which the power of appointment of the President of Faso is exercised after [the] opinion of the National Assembly as well as the modalities and effects of this consultation.
Article 56
The law determines the other offices which he provides for in the Council of Ministers, as well as the conditions in which the powers of appointment of the President are exercised.
Article 57
The Acts of the President of Faso other than those specified in Articles 46, 49, 50, 54 and 59 are countersigned by the Prime Minister, as the case may be, by the concerned Ministers.
Article 58
The President of Faso decrees, after deliberation in the Council of Ministers, the state of siege and the state of urgency.
Article 59
When the Institutions of Faso, the independence of the Nation, the integrity of its territory or the execution of its obligations are menaced in a grave and immediate manner and/or that the regular functioning of the public constitutional powers is interrupted, the President of Faso takes, after deliberation in the Council of Ministers, after official consultation of the Presidents of the National Assembly and of the Constitutional Council, the measures required by the circumstances. He informs the Nation of it by a message. In no case, may he make an appeal to foreign armed forces to intervene in an internal conflict. The National Assembly may not be dissolved during the exercise of exceptional powers.
Article 60
The President of Faso can delegate certain of his powers to the Prime Minister.
