Constitution

Gabon 1991 Constitution (reviewed 2011)

Table of Contents

TITLE XII. OF THE REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION

Article 116

The initiative to revise the Constitution concurrently belongs to the President of the Republic, the collective Council of Ministers and members of Parliament.

All propositions of revision may be submitted to the Bureau of the National Assembly by at least a third of Deputies, or to the Bureau of the Senate by at least a third of the Senators.

All projects or propositions of revision to the Constitution, as well as all amendments to the document must be submitted, for consultation, to the Constitutional Court before the referendum or the reunion of Parliament.

The revision may be accepted either by a referendum vote or by a parliamentary vote.

In the first case, the proposed revision will be submitted to a referendum by the President of the Republic, conforming to the dispositions of article 18 above.

In the second case, the National Assembly and the Senate respectively must vote upon the proposed revision without any modification before it is submitted to a convened Parliament.

The adoption of any proposed revisions of the Constitution by a Parliamentary vote requires at least a two-thirds vote from the members of the two reunited Chambers. The President of the National Assembly assures the leadership of the congress. The National Assembly’s Bureau will also serve as the Bureau of the Congress.

The adoption of a proposed revision requires the qualified majority of two-thirds of the votes expressed in congress.

The revision of the Constitution cannot be proposed or completed in the case of a vacancy of the presidential seat, any recourse to emergency measures outlined in article 26 above, or any attempt against the integrity of the territory, as well as during any period that separates the proclamation of the results of the presidential election and the beginning of the next presidential term.

Article 117

The republican nature of the State, as well as its pluralistic character and democracy are intangible traits that cannot be the object of a constitutional revision.