Constitution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland

From Roach Busters

CHAPTER I
HEAD OF STATE

1. There shall be a State President in and over Rhodesia and Nyasaland who shall be Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

2. The State President shall have such powers and duties as are conferred or imposed upon him by or under this Constitution or any other law of the Legislature.

3. (1) The State President shall be elected by an electoral college consisting of the members of the Senate and the House of Assembly, at a meeting to be called in accordance with the provisions of this section and presided over by the Chief Justice of Rhodesia and Nyasaland or a judge of appeal designated by him.

(2) The election of a State President shall be held at a time and place to be fixed by the Speaker or (in his absence) the Secretary to the House of Assembly and made known by notice in the Gazette not less than fourteen days before such election.

(3) The date so fixed shall be a date not more than three months before the termination of the period of office of the State President then holding office: Provided that if the State President dies or for any other reason vacates his office before the expiration of his period of office a date within three months after the office became vacant shall be so fixed.

(4) No person may be elected or serve as State President unless he is qualified to be nominated or elected and to take his seat as a member of the Senate.

(5) Any person holding any public office in respect of which he receives any remuneration or allowance out of public funds, who is elected as State President, shall vacate such office with effect from the date on which he is elected.

4. (1) Nominations of candidates for election as State President shall be called for at the meeting at which the election is to take place, by the person presiding thereat.

(2) Every nomination shall be submitted in the form prescribed and shall be signed by fifteen members of the electoral college and also by the person nominated, unless he has in writing or by telegram signified his willingness to accept nomination: Provided that in the case of the person for the time being holding office as State President, nomination shall be by way of a decision such as is provided for in paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) of section ten.

(3) The names of the persons duly nominated as provided in sub-section (2) shall be announced at the meeting at which the elections is to take place by the person presiding thereat, and no debate shall be allowed at the election.

(4) If in respect of any election only one nomination has been received, the person presiding at the meeting shall declare the candidate in question to be duly elected.

(5) Where more that one candidate is nominated for election, a vote shall be taken by secret ballot, each member of the electoral college present at the meeting in question having one vote, and any candidate in whose favour a majority of all the votes cast is recorded, shall be declared duly elected by the person presiding at the meeting.

(6) (a) If no candidate obtains a majority of all the votes so cast, the candidate who received the smallest number of votes shall be eliminated and a further ballot taken in respect of the remaining candidates, this procedure being repeated as often as may be necessary until a candidate receives a majority of all the votes cast and is declared duly elected.

(b) Whenever two or more candidates being the lowest on the poll have received the same number of votes, the electoral college shall by separate vote, to be repeated as often as may be necessary, determine which of these candidates shall for the purpose of paragraph (a) be eliminated.

(7) (a) Whenever—

(i) only two candidates have been nominated; or
(ii) after the elimination of one or more candidates in accordance with the provisions of this section, only two candidates remain,

and there is an equality of votes between those two candidates, a further meeting shall be called in accordance with the provisions of section eight, and the provisions of this section shall apply as if such further meeting were the first meeting called for the purposes of the election in question.

(b) At the third meeting called in connection with any particular election, the person presiding at the meeting shall in the event of an equality of votes between any two candidates under the circumstances described in paragraph (a), have and exercise a casting vote.

(8) (a) The Speaker of the House of Assembly shall make rules in regard to the procedure to be observed at a meeting of the electoral college, including rules prescribing the form in which any nomination shall be submitted, and rules defining the duties of the presiding officer and of any person appointed to assist him and prescribing the manner in which the ballot at any such meeting shall be conducted.

(b) Any such rules shall be made known in such manner as the Speaker of the House of Assembly may consider necessary.

5. (1) The State President shall hold office for a period of five years from the date upon which he takes the oath prescribed in section twelve, and shall, on the termination of his period of office, be eligible for re-election:

Provided that a State President who has held office for two terms shall not be eligible for re-election for a third term of office.

(2) The State President may resign his office by lodging his resignation in writing with the President of the Executive Council.

(3) (a) He shall cease to hold office on a resolution passed by the Senate and by the House of Assembly during the same session declaring him to be removed from office on the groud of misconduct or inability to perform efficiently the duties of his office.

(b) No resolution shall be taken under paragraph (a), except after consideration of a report of a joint committee of the Senate and the House of Assembly appointed in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Assembly which has been concurred in by the Senate.

(c) The House of Assembly shall not adopt a resolution that such a committee be appointed, unless there has previously been submitted to the Speaker of the House of Assembly a petition signed by not less than thirty members of the House of Assembly and requesting that such a committee be appointed.

(d) In connection with any resolution contemplated in paragraph (c) no debate shall be allowed either in the Senate or in the House of Assembly.

6. (1) During any period when the office of the State President is vacant or the State President is absent from Rhodesia and Nyasaland or is for any reason unable to perform the functions of his office, those functions shall during that period be assumed and performed by such person as the Executive Council may appoint.

(2) Any person appointed in terms of subsection (1) shall cease to perform the functions of the State President after the State President has informed him that he is about to resume his functions or when a new State President assumes office in terms of this Constitution.

(3) The State President or any person acting as the State President shall not, for the purpose of this section, be regarded as absent or from Rhodesia and Nyasaland or as unable to perform the functions of the office of the State President at any time when there is a subsisting appointment of a deputy under section seven.