TITLE III. OF PARLIAMENT
Article 58
The Parliament is composed of one sole chamber called the National Assembly having members carrying the title of Deputy. The Deputies are elected by universal direct suffrage.
Article 59
The term of each legislature is five years.
The parliamentary mandate is renewable.
The powers of the National Assembly expire at the end of the second ordinary session of the last year of its mandate. The elections to take place twenty days at least and fifty days at most before the expiration of the powers of the National Assembly. The law establishes the number of members of the National Assembly, the conditions of eligibility, the regime of ineligibilities and incompatibilities, the modalities of the ballot, the conditions within which it is necessary to organize new elections in the case of vacancy of seats of Deputies.
Article 60
The Constitutional Council decides on the eligibility of the candidates, and the regularity and the validity of the elections of the Deputies to the National Assembly.
Article 61
The National Assembly votes the law and authorizes tax.
Article 62
Each year, the Parliament meets of right in two ordinary sessions. The first session begins the last Wednesday of April; its duration cannot exceed three months. The second session begins the first Wednesday of October and ends the third Friday of December.
Article 63
The National Assembly is convoked in extraordinary session by its President on a fixed agenda, at the demand of the President of the Republic or of that of the absolute majority of the Deputies. The extraordinary sessions are closed as soon as the agenda is exhausted.
Article 64
The integral account of the debates is published in the Journal Officiel of the debates. The National Assembly can sit in secret committee at the demand of the President of the Republic or of one-third of the Deputies.
Article 65
The President of the National Assembly is elected for the duration of the legislature. The President of the National Assembly and the First Vice President are subject to the same conditions of eligibility as the President of the Republic.
Article 66
Every Deputy is the representative of the entire Nation. Any imperative mandate is null. The right to vote of the Deputies is personal. However, the delegation of the vote is permitted when a Deputy is absent for reason of sickness, of execution of a mandate or of a mission conferred on him by the Government or the National Assembly or in order to fulfill his military obligations or for any other justified reason. No one may receive, for one ballot, more than one delegation of the vote.
Article 67
No Deputy can be prosecuted, investigated, arrested, detained or judged on the occasion of his opinions or of the votes made by him in the exercise of his functions.
Article 68
During the term of the sessions, no member of Parliament can be prosecuted or arrested in a criminal or correctional matter without the authorization of the National Assembly, except in a case of flagrante delicto. No Deputy can, out of session, be arrested without the authorization of the Bureau of the National Assembly except in cases of flagrant delicto, authorized prosecutions or definitive condemnations. The detention or the prosecution of a member of Parliament is suspended if the National Assembly requires it.
Article 69
The Deputies receive an indemnity, the amount of which is established by a law.
Article 70
The National Assembly establishes its rules. Before their entry into force, the rules and their subsequent modifications are submitted to the Constitutional Council which declares on their conformity with the Constitution. The Constitutional Council decides within a time period of fifteen days.
