Title IV. Of the Legislative Power
Article 106
The legislative power is exercised by the National Assembly.
The members of the National Assembly have the title of Deputy.
Article 107
The Deputies are elected by direct universal suffrage.
Article 108
Chadians of the two sexes fulfilling the conditions established by the law[,] may be candidates to the National Assembly.
Article 109
The mandate of Deputy is of four (4) years renewable.*
*Constitutional Act No. 011/PR/2015, promulgated March 12, 2015, extended the term of the third legislature: “By way of derogation from Article 109 of the Constitution, the Third Legislature is extended from June 20, 2015 until the establishment of a newly elected National Assembly.”
Article 110
An organic law establishes the number of the Deputies, their indemnities, [and] the regime of the ineligibilities and of the incompatibilities.
It establishes equally the conditions under which the persons named to assure, in case of vacancy of the seat, the replacement of Deputies[,] are elected[,] until the general renewal of the National Assembly.
Article 111
The members of the National Assembly benefit from parliamentary immunity.
No Deputy may be prosecuted, investigated, arrested, detained or tried for the opinions or votes emitted by him in the exercise of his functions.
A Deputy, during the duration of the session, may only be prosecuted or arrested in a criminal or correctional matter with the permission of the National Assembly, except in cases of flagrante delicto.
A Deputy, out of session, may only be arrested with the authorization of the Bureau of the National Assembly, except in case of flagrante delicto, of authorized prosecutions or definitive condemnation.
In the case of an established crime or offense, the immunity can be lifted by the National Assembly during the sessions or by the Bureau of said Assembly out of session.
In cases of flagrante delicto, the Bureau of the National Assembly is immediately informed of the arrest.
Article 112
The members of the Bureau of the National Assembly are elected by secret ballot at the debut of the first session of the legislature.
The President of the National Assembly is elected for the duration of the legislature.
The other members of the Bureau are elected for one year renewable, except during the year preceding the renewal of the National Assembly.
However, in case of [a] substantiated breach, the members of the Bureau can be replaced as a result of a vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the National Assembly.
In case of vacancy in [a] post in the Bureau for whatever cause that may be, it proceeds within the twenty-one (21) days which follow to new elections to fill the post.
Article 113
The Deputy represents the nation in [its] entirety.
Any imperative mandate is null and of no effect.
Article 114
The right to vote of the Deputy is personal.
However, an organic law may authorize exceptionally the delegation to vote.
In this case, no one may receive delegation of more than one mandate.
Article 115
The Internal Regulations of the National Assembly determine:
- the composition, [and] the rules of functioning of the Bureau as well as the prerogatives of its President;
the number, the mode of designation, the composition, the role and the competence of its permanent commissions, its commissions of delegation as well as its temporary commissions; the organization of the administrative services; the disciplinary regime of the Deputies; the different modes of the ballot, with the exclusion of those provided for by the Constitution; all the rules relative to the functioning of the National Assembly.
Article 116
If, at the opening of a session, the quorum of two-thirds [2/3] of the Deputies is not attained, the sitting is postponed to the third working day which follows. In this case, the deliberations are only valid if half at least of the Deputies are present.
Article 117
The sittings of the National Assembly are valid only if they occur in the ordinary place of their sessions, except in case of force majeure.
The sittings of the National Assembly are public.
However, the Assembly may sit in closed [sitting] at the demand of the Prime Minister or of one-third (1/3) of its members.
The complete record of the debates of the National Assembly is published in the Journal Offciel de la République [Official Gazette of the Republic].
Article 118
The National Assembly meets of plain right in two (2) ordinary sessions per year.
The first session opens on the fifth (5) of April.
The second session opens on the fifth (5) of October.
If the fifth (5) of April or fifth (5) of October is a holiday, the opening of the session takes place on the first working day which follows.
The duration of each session may not exceed ninety (90) days.
Article 119
The National Assembly meets in extraordinary Session at the demand of the Prime Minister or of the majority of its members, on a specific agenda.
When the extraordinary Session is held at the demand of the members of the National Assembly, the decree of cloture intervenes once it has exhausted the agenda for which it had been convoked and at the latest fifteen (15) days counting from the date of opening of the Session.
The Prime Minister may only demand one new Session before the expiration of the month which follows the Decree of cloture.
Article 120
Except in the case in which the National Assembly meets of plain right, the extraordinary Sessions are opened and closed by Decree of President of the Republic.
