constituteproject.org PDF generated: 18 Apr 2016, 15:28 He is the guarantor of the national independence, of the integrity of the territory, of the permanence and of the continuity of the State, [and] of respect for agreements and treaties. • Secret ballot • Head of state selection • Head of state term length • Head of state term limits • Claim of universal suffrage • Minimum age of head of state • Eligibility for head of state Article 37 The President of Faso is elected for five years by universal, direct, equal and secret suffrage. He is re-eligible one time. Article 38 Every candidate to the functions of President of Faso must be Burkinabe by birth, be thirty-five years of age at least and of seventy-five years [of age] at most at the date of deposit of his candidature[,] and meeting the conditions required by the law. • Head of state selection Article 39 The President of Faso is elected by the absolute majority of the suffrage expressed. If this majority is not obtained in the first round of the ballot, it proceeds fifteen (15) days later to a second round. Only the two candidates can present themselves who, as the case may be, after withdrawal of the less favored candidates, are found to have received the greatest number of votes at the first round; the President of Faso is then elected by simple majority. Article 40 The elections are set twenty-one days at least and forty days at most before the expiration of the mandate of the President in office. Article 41 The law determines the procedure, the conditions of eligibility and of presentation of the candidatures to the presidential elections, of the conduct of the ballot, of the counting and of the proclamation of the results. It specifies all the provisions required so that the elections will be free, honest and regular. Article 42 The functions of the President of Faso are incompatible with the exercise of all other elective mandate of national level, of any public employment and of any professional activity. The provisions of Articles 72, 73, 74 and 75 of this Constitution are applicable to the President of Faso. • Head of state removal • Head of state replacement Article 43 While the President of Faso is incapacitated in a temporary manner from fulfilling his functions, his powers are provisionally exercised by the Prime Minister. In case of vacancy of the Presidency of Faso for any cause that may be, or of absolute or definitive incapacity declared by the Constitutional Council referred to [the matter] by the Government, the functions of the President of Faso are exercised by the President of the Senate. It proceeds to the election of a new President for a new period of five years. Burkina Faso 1991 (rev. 2012) Page 9