constituteproject.org • First chamber selection PDF generated: 18 Apr 2016, 16:56 Article 82 The law determines the conditions for the election of Deputies. Of the Senate Article 83 The Senate is the organ of territorial representation and of the local corporations, in the manner determined by the law. • Second chamber selection • Scheduling of elections • Secret ballot • Size of second chamber • Term length of second chamber • Claim of universal suffrage Article 84   1.   2. • Eligibility for second chamber   3.   4. • Second chamber selection The Senate is composed of seventy senators that are elected for a mandate of five years by universal, direct and secret suffrage in general elections that are held on one day and within sixty days before or after the expiration of their mandate. The law determines the number of senators of free appointment by the President of the Republic among the seventy senators. The Electoral Law defines the electoral circumscriptions and determines the number of seats corresponding to each one, the regime of eligibility and ineligibility and of compatibility and incompatibility of the senators and develops other aspects of the electoral process. Seats are attributed to each territorial representation and to local corporations. Article 85 The Ex-Presidents of the Republic, the Ex-Vice Presidents of the Republic, the Ex-Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, are natural senators with all the rights, prerogatives and immunities, when conserving their political and social dignity and reputation. • Second chamber reserved policy areas Article 86 Only those matters that fall within its specific competences may be included in the agenda of the sessions of the Senate and those that the President of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies expressly solicit for intervention. • Head of state replacement Article 87   1. Equatorial Guinea 1991 (rev. 2012) In case of the simultaneous vacancy in the Presidency and the Vice-presidency of the Republic, the President of the Senate temporarily [interinamente] assumes the role of President of the Republic and shall convoke new presidential elections within a period of ninety days. Page 25