constituteproject.org PDF generated: 17 Jan 2014, 16:43 Article 51 All imperative mandates are null. The right to vote of the members of the Parliament is personal. The organic law can authorize exceptionally the delegation of [the] vote. In this case, no one may receive the delegation for more than one mandate. Any deliberation outside the time of the sessions or outside the place of the sitting is null. The President of the Republic can demand the Constitutional Council to declare this nullity. The sittings of the National Assembly and of the Senate are public. The report of the debates is published in the Journal Officiel [Official Gazette]. Each one of the Assemblies can sit in closed session at the demand of the Government or of one-fourth (1/4) of its members present. Article 52 The Parliament meets of plain right in two (2) ordinary sessions each year. The first session opens on the first business [ouvrable] day of the month of October. The second session [opens on] the first business day of the month of April. The duration of each session may not exceed four (4) months. Article 53 The Parliament can meet in an extraordinary session at the demand of the President of the Republic or of the majority of the members of the National Assembly for a determined agenda [ordre du jour]. The length of an extraordinary session may not exceed one month. The extraordinary sessions are opened and closed by a decree of the President of the Republic. Article 54 The members of the Government have access to the two Assemblies. They are heard when they demand it. They may be assisted by commissioners of the Government. Article 55 The President of the National Assembly is elected for the duration of the legislature. The President of the Senate is elected after each partial renewal. Mauritania 1991 (rev. 2012) Page 11