Republic of Equatorial Guinea
The Fundamental Law of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, 1982 As Amended and Promulgated 26 February 2012
FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Fundamental Law of Akinobe
[Adopted at the Referendum of 15 August 1982. As amended and restated adopted at the Referendum of23 November 2011 and promulgated 26 February 2012]
PREAMBLE
We, the people of Equatorial Guinea, conscious of our responsibility before God and History;
Animated by the will to safeguard our total independence, to organize and consolidate our national unity;
Desirous to maintain the authentic African spirit of the positive tradition of the family and communal organization, adapting it to new social and juridical structures in accordance with modern life;
Conscious that the charismatic authority of the traditional family is the basis of organization of Equatoguinean society;
Firmly supported by the principles of social justice solemnly reaffirmed in the rights and freedoms of man defined by the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man of the 10th of October of 1948;
The African Charter of Rights of Man and of Peoples of 26th June of 1981;
Adopt the following Fundamental Law of Equatorial Guinea.
FIRST TITLE
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE STATE
Article 1
1. Equatorial Guinea is a sovereign, independent, republican, social and democratic State, in which the supreme values are unity, peace, justice, liberty and equality.
2. Political pluralism is recognized.
3. The official name is: REPUBLICA DE GUINEA ECUATORIAL [Republic of Equatorial Guinea].
Article 2
Sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it by way of universal suffrage.
From them emanate the public powers that are exercised under the conditions that this Fundamental Law and other laws determine. No fraction of the people or individual may arrogate the exercise of national sovereignty.
Article 3
1. The territory of Equatorial Guinea is composed of the continental zone denominated Rio Muni and the islands of Bioko, Annob6n, Corisco, Elobey Grande, Elobey Chico, Mbafie, Conga, Leva, Cocotero and adjacent islets, the fluvial waters, the maritime zone, [and] the continental shelf that the Law determines and the airspace that covers them.
2. The State fully exercises its sovereignty over its territory and may explore and exploit in exclusive manner all the resources and mineral wealth [riquezas] and hydrocarbons.
3. The national territory is inalienable and irreducible.
4. It is divided for administrative and economic purposes, in Regions, Provinces, Districts, and Municipalities.
5. The law determines the limits and the denominations of the regions, provinces, districts, and municipalities. The law equally establishes the space that each one of the mentioned zones occupies.
Article 4
1. The official languages of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea are Spanish,
French and those that the Law determines. The autochthonous languages are recognized as integral parts of the national culture.
2. The national flag is green, white, and red, in three horizontal bands of equal dimension, and a blue triangle at the extremity closest to the flagpole. In the center of the flag the Seal of the Republic shall be engraved.
3. The Seal of the Republic is that which the Law establishes.
4. The motto of the Republic is Unidad Paz y Justicia [Unity, Peace, and Justice].
5. The National Anthem is that sung by the People on the day of the proclamation of Independence, 12th October of 1968.
Article 5
The fundamentals of the Equatoguinean society are:
a) The respect for the human person, for his dignity and freedom, and other fundamental rights;
b) The protection of the family, the basic unit of the Equatoguinean society;
c) The recognition of the right of equality between the man and the woman;
d) The protection of labor, by way of which man develops his personality creating the wealth of the Nation for the social well-being;
e) The promotion of the economic development of the Nation;
f) The promotion of the social and cultural development of the Equatoguinean citizens so that the supreme values of the State may become real in them.
Article 6
The State encourages and promotes culture, artistic creativity, [and] scientific and technological investigation and sees to the conservation of nature, the cultural patrimony and the artistic and historical wealth of the Nation.
Article 7
The State defends the sovereignty of the Nation, reinforces its unity and assures the respect for the fundamental rights of man and the promotion of the economic, social, and cultural progress of the citizens.
Article 8
The Equatoguinean State respects the principles of International Law and reaffirms its adherence to the rights and obligations that emanate from the International Organizations and Organs to which it has adhered.
Article 9
1. The political parties are political organizations composed of persons who associate freely in order to participate in the political orientation of the State.
They constitute the expression of political pluralism and of democracy; they concur in the formation and manifestation of the popular will, as fundamental instruments for political participation.
2. The political parties of Equatorial Guinea may not have identical denomination to those that pre-existed 12th October 1968, and they must have national character and scope, by which [they] may not be based on tribe, ethnicity, region, district, municipality, province, sex, religion, social condition, or profession or office. A law shall regulate their creation and functioning.
Article 10
The right to strike is recognized and exercised under the conditions provided for by the Law.
Article 11
The citizens, the public powers, the political parties, the unions, the associations and other juridical persons are subject to the Fundamental Law and to the Juridical Order.
Article 12
1. The law determines the juridical regime applicable to the right of nationality, citizenship, and the status [condici6n] of foreigners.
2. The age of majority of the Equatoguinean citizen is acquired at 18 years.
Article 13
1. Every citizen enjoys the following rights and freedoms:
a) The respect for his person, his life, his personal integrity, his dignity and his full material and moral development. The penalty of death may only be imposed for [a] crime contemplated by the Law.
b) To the freedom of expression, of thought, ideas, and opinions.
c) To equality before the law. The woman, whatever her civil status may be, has equal rights and opportunities as the man in all the orders of public, private, and family life, [and] in civil, political, economic, social, and cultural [life].
d) To free circulation and residence.
e) To honor and to good reputation.
f) To the freedom of religion and worship [culto].
g) To the inviolability of the domicile and to secrecy of communications.
h) To present complaints and petitions to the authorities.
i) To the right to habeas corpus and to amparo.
j) To [a] defense before the tribunals and to an adversarial process within the framework of respect for the law.
k) To free association, assembly, and manifestation.
1) To the freedom to work.
m) To not be deprived of his liberty save by virtue of a judicial order, except in the cases provided by the Law and that of flagrante delicto.
n) To be informed of the cause or reasons of his detention.
o) To be presumed innocent while his culpability has not been legally demonstrated.
p) To not testify in trial against himself, or his relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second of affinity, or [not] be compelled to testify under oath against himself in matters which give may rise to criminal responsibility.
q) To not be judged or condemned two times for the same acts.
r) To not be condemned without a previous trial, or deprived of the right of defense in whatever state or grade of the process.
s) To not be castigated for any act or omission that at the moment it was committed was not characterized or castigated as a criminal infraction; a penalty not provided for in the law may not be applied. In case of doubt, the Criminal Law is applied in the sense more favorable to the offender [reo].
2. Concerning the basis of the principle of equality of the woman before the law, the public powers shall adopt legal initiatives and mechanisms to favor the adequate representation and participation of the woman in the provision of the offices [cargos] and other functions in all the institutions of the State.
3. The legislative provisions shall define the conditions of the exercise of these rights and freedoms.
Article 14
The enumeration of the fundamental rights recognized in this Title [capitulo] do not exclude the others that the Fundamental Law guarantees, or others of analogous nature and that are derived from the dignity of man, from the principle of sovereignty of the people or from the social and democratic state of law, and [from] the republican form of the State.
Article 15
1. Any act of bias [parcialidad] or of discrimination duly substantiated for tribal, ethnic, sexual, religious, social, political or other analogous motives, is punishable or castigated by the Law.
2. Acts of corruption will always be castigated by the law.
Article 16
1. All Equatoguineans have the duty to honor the Fatherland, to defend its sovereignty, the territorial integrity and the national unity, as well as to contribute to the preservation of peace, the national security and the essential values of the Equatoguinean tradition and to protect the national interests.
2. Military service is obligatory. It shall be regulated by the law.
Article 17
Every Equatoguinean has the right and the duty to live peacefully in the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, to respect the rights of others and to contribute to the formation of a just, fraternal, and unified [solidaria] society.
Article 18
All the inhabitants of the Republic must [show] respect to Equatorial Guinea, to its national symbols, to the Head of State, Government and other legally constituted institutions.
Article 19
1. The State through the Tax Law [Ley Tributaria], inspired by the basic principles of equality, generality, and prosperity, establishes the taxes [impuetos], encumbrances [grawimenes] and para-fiscal contributions [exacciones] and the special circumstances that correspond [concurren] in each tax type [figura] for its liquidation.
2. All physical and juridical persons, national or foreign, resident in the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, have the obligation to pay taxes by law.
Article 20
1. Every Equatoguinean has the duty to support, proportionally to his contributory faculties, the public financial charges established by the law.
2. The revenues and expenses of the State and the program of investments are written in each financial year [ejercicio] in an annual budget drafted in accordance with the applicable legislation.
Article 21
Every citizen has the duty to respect, to comply with and to defend the Fundamental Law and the Juridical Order of the Nation.
Article 22
1. The State protects the family as the fundamental unit of the society, assures [to] it the moral, cultural, and economic conditions favorable to the realization of its objectives.
2. It protects equally all classes of matrimony celebrated in accordance to law, as well as maternity and familial assets.
Article 23
1. The State protects the person from his conception and protects [ampara] the minor so that he may develop normally and in security for his moral, mental, and physical integrity, as well as [in] his life in the home.
2. The State encourages and promotes primary attention to health as the cornerstone of development of the strategy in this sector.
Article 24
1. Education is a primordial duty of the State. All citizens have the right to primary education, which is obligatory, gratuitous, and guaranteed.
2. The attainment [alcance] of the non-gratuity of education is established by the law.
3. The State guarantees to every person, private entity, or religious community, legally constituted, the right to found schools, provided they are subject to the official pedagogical plan.
4. Official teaching admits the free election of religious education, based on the freedom of conscience and of religion that this Fundamental Law protects;
5. The teaching officially recognized may not orient itself to program or to propagate any ideological or partisan tendency.
Article 25
The State supports responsible paternity and the education appropriate for the promotion of the family.
Article 26
1. Work is a right and a social duty. The State recognizes its constructive function for the betterment of the well-being and the development of the national wealth. The State promotes the economic and social conditions to eliminate poverty, misery and to assure with equality to all the citizens of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea the possibilities of a useful occupation which permits them to not be threatened [acosados] by necessity.
2. The law shall define the conditions of the exercise of this right.
Article 27
1. The economic system of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is based on the principle of [the] free market and of free enterprise.
2. The law regulates the exercise of these freedoms in accordance with the requirements of economic and social development.
3. The State protects, guarantees, and controls the investment of foreign capital that contributes to the development of the Country.
Article 28
The economy of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea shall function by way of four basic sectors:
a) The public sector, composed of enterprises of [the] exclusively property of the State, constituted principally for the exploitation of the resources and services enumerated in Article 29 of this Fundamental Law, as well as for any other economic activity.
b) The sector of mixed economy, integrated by enterprises of public capital in association with private capital.
c) The cooperative sector, whose property and management belong to the community of persons who work permanently in it. The State adopts laws for the regulation and development of this sector.
d) The private sector, integrated by enterprises whose property corresponds to one or several physical or juridical persons of private law and, in general, by enterprises not comprehended in the sectors previously enumerated.
Article 29
1. [The following] are resources and services reserved to the public sector:
a) Minerals and hydrocarbons.
b) The services of provision of potable water and electricity.
c) The services of posts, telecommunications and transport.
d) Radio diffusion and television.
e) Others that the law determines.
2. The State may delegate, concede, or associate to private initiative for the development of any of the activities or services mentioned above, in the form and cases that the law establishes.
Article 30
1. The State recognizes property of public and private character.
2. The right to property is guaranteed and protected with no greater limitations than those established by the law.
3. Property is inviolable; no person may be deprived of his assets and rights, save for reasons of public utility and [with] corresponding indemnization.
4. The State guarantees to farmers the traditional ownership of the lands that they possess.
5. The law establishes the juridical regime of the assets of public domain.
SECOND TITLE
Chapter I
Of the Powers and Organs of the State
Article 31
1. The State exercises its sovereignty by way of the following powers: the Executive Power, the Legislative Power and the Judicial Power.
2. The law develops the faculties and functions of each one of these powers.
Article 32
1. The State exercises its functions by way of the President of the Republic, the Vice President of the Republic, the Council of Ministers, the Chamber of the Deputies, the Senate, the Judicial Power, the Constitutional Tribunal, the Superior Council of the Judicial Power, the Council of the Republic, the National Council for Economic and Social Development, the Tribunal of Accounts, the Defender of the People and other Organs created in accordance with the Fundamental Law and other laws.
2. The law develops the competences and the functioning of these organs.
3. The President of the Republic can designate a Prime Minister from among the members of the Government to take responsibility for [encargarse] the administrative coordination, the presentation of laws and other provisions of the Executive before the Parliament, as well as other functions that he delegates [to] him.
Chapter II
Of the President of the Republic
Article 33
1. The President of the Republic is the Head of State, [and] exercises the Executive Power as Head of Government. He incarnates the national unity, defines the policy of the Nation, sees to the respect of the Fundamental Law, assures by his arbitration the functioning of the public powers, represents the Nation, and is the guarantor of National Independence. He is elected by universal, direct and secret suffrage by simple majority of the votes validly emitted.
2. The law establishes the conditions of development of the electoral process.
3. The President of the Republic shall be assisted by a Vice President of the Republic, to whom he can delegate any of his Constitutional faculties.
4. Before carrying out his functions, the [person] appointed Vice President of the Republic is confirmed [ratificado] by both Chambers of the Parliament in Plenum and by simple majority of their members in the course of one extraordinary session convoked to [this] effect by the President of the Republic.
Article 34
The person of the Head of State is inviolable. The law regulates the privileges and immunities of the Heads of State following [despuis] their mandate.
Article 35
To be President of the Republic [it] is required:
a) To be Equatoguinean of origin.
b) To be in enjoyment of the rights of citizenship.
c) To have resided in the Country for five uninterrupted years.
d) To be able to interpret the Fundamental Law.
e) To have been elected in accordance with this Fundamental Law and other laws.
f) To be forty years [of age] as [a] minimum.
g) To not have other nationality.
Article 36
1. The President of the Republic is elected for a period of seven years [and] he may be reelected.
2. The mandate of the President of the Republic is limited to two consecutive periods, [and] he may not be presented for a third mandate until the alternation has been produced.
3. The presidential elections are convoked [in the] seventh year of the mandate of the President of the Republic at a date established by decree agreed to in the Council of Ministers.
4. The elections shall take place forty-five days before the expiration of the powers of the President in exercise [of the functions] or, at the latest, within the seventy days following that date.
Article 37
1. The President [who is] elected, in the maximum time of thirty days [from] the proclamation of the results of the elections, swears the oath of fidelity to the Fundamental Law and assumes the office [cargo] before a Court of Honor composed of the Boards [Mesas] of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate, the Supreme Court of Justice in plenum and the Constitutional Tribunal in plenum.
2. Having celebrated the Presidential elections, the President of the Republic [who is] elected shall appoint a new Government.
Article 38
The President of the Republic determines the policy of the Nation, arbitrates and moderates the normal functioning of all the Institutions of the State. His authority extends to all the national territory.
Article 39
The President of the Republic exercises the regulatory power in the Council of Ministers.
Article 40
The President of the Republic sanctions and promulgates the laws, [and] he exercises the right of veto in the terms provided in this Fundamental Law.
Article 41
The President of the Republic also exercises the following powers:
a) He guarantees the application of this Fundamental Law, the functioning of the public powers, and the continuity of the State.
b) He convokes and presides over the Council of Ministers.
c) He adopts in the Council of Ministers, Decree-Laws and Decrees, in the terms established in this Fundamental Law.
d) [He] is the Supreme Chief of the National Armed Forces and [Forces] of Security of the State. The President of the Republic guarantees the security of the State in the exterior.
e) He declares war and concludes peace.
f) The President of the Republic freely appoints and dismisses the Vice President of the Republic. The Vice President of the Republic must belong to the party of the President of the Republic.
g) He ratifies the decision of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate concerning the election and termination [cese] of the Presidents and other members of their respective Boards in accordance with this Fundamental Law and the internal [propio] Regulations of both Chambers.
h) He appoints and dismisses to the high civil and military offices [cargos], [and] he may delegate to the Vice President of the Republic or the Prime Minister, the appointment of other civil and military functionaries.
i) He negotiates and signs the international agreements and treaties in accordance with this Fundamental Law.
j) He represents Equatorial Guinea in international relations, receives and accredits Ambassadors and authorizes to the consuls the exercise of their functions.
k) He confers titles, honors, and decorations of the State.
1) He exercises the right of pardon.
m) He convokes the general elections provided for in this Fundamental Law.
n) He convokes the referendum in accordance with this Fundamental Law.
o) He approves in the Council of Ministers the national plans of development.
p) He decides on [disponer] the dissolution of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate in accordance with the provisions of this Fundamental Law.
q) He exercises the other attributions and prerogatives that the laws confer [on] him.
Article 42
All the National Armed Forces, Forces of Security of the State and Forces of Public Order, depend absolutely and for all effects on the President of the Republic, with the objective [finalidad] of seeing to the territorial integrity and conservation of the public order.
Article 43
In the case of imminent danger, when the declaration of the State of exception or of siege is declared [se acuerde], the President of the Republic can suspend, for a maximum time of three months, the rights and guarantees established in this Fundamental Law and take exceptional measures to safeguard the territorial integrity, the national independence, the institutions of the State and the functioning of public powers and services, informing the People by message.
The time of three months referred to may be extended until the causes that motivated this suspension have disappeared.
Article 44
1. The President of the Republic, when the circumstances demand it, can declare by way of decree the state of alarm, the state of exception or that of siege, informing the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate.
2. The proclamation of the state of alarm, of exception or of siege must expressly determine the effects of it and, the territorial scope to which its duration is extended.
3. The law regulates the states of alarm, of exception and of siege, as well as the corresponding competences and limitations.
4. While any of the states comprehended in this Article have been declared, the dissolution of the Chambers of Parliament may not proceed.
5. For the creation [actuaci6n] of armed bands or of terrorist elements, with the necessary judicial intervention and the adequate parliamentary control, the rights and guarantees recognized in this Fundamental Law can be suspended in individual or collective form for specific persons[,] in accordance with the Law.
Article 45
1. The functions of the President of the Republic will cease by:
a) Resignation.
b) Expiration of the mandate provided for in the conditions regulated by this Fundamental Law.
c) Permanent physical or mental incapacity.
d) Death.
2. In case of vacancy in the Power for reasons a), c) and d), the Vice President of the Republic assumes the functions of the President of the Republic
3. In the maximum time of twenty-four hours [from] the vacancy being produced, the new President of the Republic takes the oath of fidelity to the Fundamental Law and assumes the office [cargo] before a Court of Honor composed on the Boards of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate, the Supreme Court of Justice in Plenum and the Constitutional Tribunal in Plenum, to complete [culminar] the mandate of the President of the Republic [who] is substituted.
Chapter III
Of the Council of Ministers
Article 46
For the exercise of the political and administrative function, the President of the Republic presides over the Council of Ministers, constituted by the Vice President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and other members of the Government.
Article 47
1. The Council of Ministers is the organ which executes the general policy of the Nation determined by the President of the Republic, assures the application of the laws and assists in permanent mode the President of the Republic in political, economic and administrative matters.
2. The Law determines the number of Ministers, their denominations as well as the competences attributed to each one.
Article 48
The direction, management and administration of the public services is confided to the Ministers in matters of the competence of the Departments of their respective branches.
Article 49
Outside of the cases expressly defined in this Fundamental Law and those that are determined by the other laws, the Council of Ministers has the following attributions:
a) To direct the general policy of the Nation determined by the President of the Republic, organizing and executing the economic, cultural, scientific, and social activities.
b) To promote the plans of socio-economic development of the State and once adopted by the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate and signed [refrendados] by the President of the Republic, to organize, direct and control their execution.
c) To draft the Bill of the General Budget of the State and, once adopted by the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate and sanctioned by the President of the Republic, to see to its execution.
d) To adopt the monetary policy and to take the measures to protect and strengthen the monetary and financial regime of the Nation.
e) To draft the Bills of Laws and to submit them for adoption by the Chamber of the Deputies and by the Senate.
f) To concede territorial asylum.
g) To direct the Administration of the State, coordinating and funding [fiscalizando] the activities of the different Departments that integrate it.
h) To see to the execution of the laws and other provisions of general character that integrate the Juridical Order of the Nation.
i) To create the commissions necessary for the fulfillment of the attributions that have been conferred on it.
Article 50
1. The Vice President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Members of the Government, by their management are responsible in collective [solidara] form before the law, before the President of the Republic, [and] before the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate, without prejudice to the individual responsibility of each one before the law.
2. The civil and criminal responsibility of the President of the Republic and Head of Government, of the Vice President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and of the Members of the Government will be required in accordance with the Law.
3. Of the acts of the President of the Republic, Head of State and of the Government, [he] will be responsible for those which he signs [refrenden].
Article 51
The Members of the Government, jointly with the President of the Republic and Head of Government, are:
a) The Vice President of the Republic
b) The Prime Minister
c) The Vice Prime Ministers
d) The Ministers of State
e) The Ministers
g) The Delegated Ministers
g) The Vice Ministers
h) The Secretaries of State.
Article 52
Before taking possession of his functions, the Vice President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the other Members of the Government take [the] oath of fidelity before the President of the Republic, to his person and to this Fundamental Law.
Article 53
The Council of Ministers in Plenum, and the Ministers separately, can participate [concurrir] with voice [but] without vote in the debates of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate. They also participate when they are invited to report [informar].
Chapter IV
Of the Parliament
Provisions Common to both Chambers
Article 54
The power to legislate resides in the people, who delegate it to the Parliament by means of universal suffrage and which exercises it through the framework of competences that this Fundamental Law specifies.
Article 55
The Parliament exercises the Legislative Power of the State. It is composed [integrado] of two Chambers: the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate. Both Organs participate in the formulation of the laws and act separately and jointly in the form that this Fundamental Law and other laws establish for the exercise of their respective functions and competences [competiciones].
Article 56
1. The Deputies and Senators are elected for a mandate of five years by universal, direct and secret suffrage in general elections which are celebrated on one sole day and within the sixty days before or following the termination of their mandate.
2. The seats of the Deputies and of the Senators are attributed to each list of candidature by the system of representation that the law determines.
3. The Electoral Law determines the number of seats corresponding to each electoral circumscription, the regime of eligibility and ineligibility and [of] compatibility and incompatibility of the Deputies and Senators, and develops the other aspects of the electoral process.
Article 57
The Deputies and the Senators are not bound by imperative mandate.
Article 58
The Deputies and Senators have the right to amendment and to vote. The vote is personal.
Article 59
The President of the Republic, after consulting with the Government and the Boards of both Chambers, can submit to popular consultation any question which requires the direct consultation of the People. The Bill so adopted, is promulgated by the President of the Republic.
Article 60
The President of the Republic, in the Council of Ministers may provide for the dissolution of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate and order the convocation of the next [anticipadas] general elections. If the dissolution of the
Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate is produced during the last year of the period for which its members were elected, the election of their members takes place in accordance with the provisions of this Fundamental Law.
Article 61
The vacant seats [plazas] which are produced in the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate are filled in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Law.
Article 62
1. No Deputy or Senator may be prosecuted or detained for the opinions that [he] has emitted during and following the exercise of his functions in the Chamber of the Deputies or in the Senate respectively.
2. No governmental or judicial authority may detain or prosecute a Deputy or Senator without the indispensible requirement of obtaining the previous permission of the Board of the respective Chamber, except in case of flagrante delicto.
Article 63
1. The Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate meets of plain right [on] the first working day following the elapse of 30 days from the promulgation of the results of the General Elections.
2. The Agenda of this first meeting will be dedicated exclusively to the election of the Presidents and other members of the respective Boards, unless the Government requests the inclusion in it of urgent matters.
Article 64
1. The Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate meet two times per year, once in the month of January and [the] other in the month of July, for a maximum time of five months per period of sessions.
2. To celebrate sessions requires the presence [asistencia] of half plus one of the members of the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate, and the agreements are taken by simple majority of votes of those present.
Article 65
The opening and closing of each period of sessions, both the ordinary and extraordinary, are declared by Decree of the President of the Republic, on agreement with the Boards of both Chambers.
Article 66
The debates of the Plenary Sessions of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate are public.
Article 67
On petition of the Government or of the three-fourths part of the Deputies or Senators, the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate can celebrate specific closed sessions for reasons of confidentiality or security.
Article 68
1. The legislative initiative corresponds to the President of the Republic in the Council of Ministers and to the Deputies and Senators in the form that the law determines.
2. The proposals of laws emanating from the Deputies and Senators are deposited with the Board of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate in accordance with [what] the respective Internal Regulations establish, and [are] transmitted to the Government for its study.
Article 69
Apart from those cases expressly provided for in other Articles of this Fundamental Law, the following are matters reserved to the law:
a) The regulation of the exercise of the rights and duties of the citizens.
b) The regime of forced expropriation of assets with a view to their public utility.
c) The nationality, the estate and capacity of persons, the matrimonial regimes and inheritance.
d) The judicial organization, the creation of new organs of jurisdiction and the statutes of the Magistrates and of the Public Ministry.
e) The penitentiary regime, amnesty and the determination of crimes, as well as the penalties that are applicable to them.
f) The regime of association, the political parties, and the unions.
g) The regime of circulation and of the minting of money, stamps and seals [timbres] of the State.
h) The general administrative and financial organization.
i) The conditions of participation of the State in mixed enterprises and the management of them.
j) The regime of the public patrimony.
k) The regime of the freedoms of persons, of property, of concessions, of real rights and of civil and commercial obligations.
1) The fiscal credits and obligations of the State.
m) The program of economic and social action.
n) The fundamental principles of education, culture, labor rights, and social security.
o) The regulation of weights and measures.
Article 70
1. The General Budgets of the State presented by the Government in the course of the second session is voted by the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate. In the case that it has not been approved before the expiration of the current financial year [ejercicio], the President of the Republic can extend the Budgetary Law of the preceding year until the adoption of the new [Budgetary
Law].
2. On petition of the Government, the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate are convoked [within] ten days to meet in extraordinary session for a new deliberation.
3. In the case that the Budgets have not been adopted by the end of the extraordinary session, the Budgetary Law will be definitively established by the President of the Republic.
Article 71
If the Budgets are not presented by the Government in the course of the second ordinary session of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate, the President of the Republic shall convoke an extraordinary session of them to this end.
Article 72
Before promulgating the Law, the President of the Republic can demand [pedir] a second or third reading of it to the Chamber of the Deputies and to the Senate.
Article 73
The President of the Republic can address, of office, the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate or send written messages. These communications do not give rise to any debate in his presence, except when the session is especially dedicated to this effect.
Article 74
The Agenda of the Sessions of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate is established by the respective Boards.
Article 75
The President of the Republic promulgates and sanctions the laws adopted by the Chamber of the Deputies and by the Senate.
Article 76
The Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate approve their budgets of expenditures and communicate them to the Government for their accommodation and inclusion in the General Budgets of the State.
Article 77
The Chambers communicate between themselves and with the Powers of the
State through their respective Presidents.
Article 78
The law establishes the regime of incompatibility of the Deputies and Senators in exercise of their functions.
Article 79
The common functions of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate are the following:
a) To elect from among their members their Presidents, Vice Presidents, and other members of the Boards of their respective Chambers.
b) To adopt their own Internal Regulations.
c) To adopt the Law of the Budget of Revenues, Expenses and Investments of the State.
d) To legislate in tax-related matters, to suppress and to create taxes and other encumbrances [gravdmenes] according to the cases.
e) To legislate concerning weights and measures.
f) To determine the bases of Civil, Mercantile, Procedural [procesal], Criminal, and Labor Law.
g) To regulate the fundamental rights and all those that refer to matters of legal reserve.
h) Those [cuantas] other attributions the laws confer on it.
Of the Chamber of Deputies
Article 80
The Chamber of the Deputies, is the legislative organ of the State and of popular representation of the Nation. It is composed of [integrada] 100 members that are elected for a mandate of five years by universal, direct and secret suffrage in general elections which are celebrated on one sole day and within the sixty days before or following the expiration of their mandate.
Article 81
The Chamber of Deputies is competent:
a) To approve the peace treaties, and commercial [treaties], those [treaties] that affect the National Sovereignty and the territorial integrity and all those that are referred to matters of legal reserve, and submit them to the ratification of the President of the Republic.
b) To authorize the President of the Republic, during the interim of the Sessions, to issue [dictar] Decree-Laws concerning matters of legal reserve. These Decree-Laws enter into force once published and may not be derogated except by other law. The Government shall inform the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate of these Decree-Laws.
c) To give clarification [interpretar] to the Members of the Government concerning matters of its competence and to have them appear before the Chamber to render explications concerning its general policy or concerning a specific matter under its responsibility.
d) To appoint, from within, commissions with the objective to investigate any matter which has engaged [comprometido] the public interest. These commissions have free access to all the Departments of the Administration, the secrets of the State being excepted.
Article 82
The law shall determine the conditions of election of the Deputies.
Of the Senate
Article 83
The Senate is the organ of territorial representation and [representation] of the local corporations, in the form that the law determines.
Article 84
1. The Senate will be composed of seventy senators who are elected for a mandate of five years by universal, direct and secret suffrage in general elections that are celebrated on one sole day and within the sixty days before or following the expiration of their mandate.
2. The law determines the number of senators of free appointment [designacion] of the President of the Republic among the seventy senators.
3. 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.
4. Seats are attributed to each territorial representation and to the local corporations.
Article 85
The Ex-Presidents of the Republic, the Ex-Vice Presidents of the Republic, the Ex-Presidents of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate, are rightful [natos/born] senators with all the rights, prerogatives and immunities, while conserving their political and social dignity and reputation.
Article 86
Only those matters comprehended in its specific competences may be included [inscritos] in the agenda of the sessions of the Senate, and those where the President of the Republic and the Chamber of the Deputies expressly solicit its intervention.
Article 87
1. In case of the simultaneous vacancy in the Presidency and the Vice Presidency of the Republic, the President of the Senate assumes [in the] interim the office [cargo] of President of the Republic and shall convoke new presidential elections in the time of ninety days.
2. In the election convoked in accordance with the previous paragraph, the
Interim President of the Republic may not be presented as a candidate.
3. During the period of transition until the election of the new President of the Republic, the Fundamental Law may not be modified and no organ of the State may be dissolved.
Article 88
Functions of the Senate are:
a) To adopt in second reading the bills of laws and other provisions submitted to its study and approval by the Chamber of the Deputies.
b) To accept or not the resignation of the President of the Republic.
c) The others that the law determines.
Chapter V
Of the Judicial Power
General Provisions
Article 89
The Judicial Power is independent of the Legislative Power and of the Executive Power. It exercises the jurisdictional function of the State.
Article 90
1. Justice emanates from the People and is administered in the name of the Head of State.
2. The Organic Law of the Judicial Power determines the organization and the attributions of the courts and the tribunals necessary for the efficient functioning of the Administration of Justice. The same Law establishes the statute of the Magistrature.
Article 91
The exercise of the jurisdictional power in any type of process, judgment and [in] having the judgment executed, corresponds exclusively to the courts and tribunals determined by the Law.
Article 92
The Head of State is the First Magistrate of the Nation and guarantees the independence of the jurisdictional function.
Article 93
The Judges and Magistrates are submitted only to the provisions of the Law in the exercise of their functions.
Article 94
The principle of jurisdictional unity is the basis of the organization and of the functioning of the courts and tribunals. The Law establishes the juridical regime applicable to the Military Jurisdiction.
Article 95
Trials are public, save the cases that the law specifies, but the tribunals of justice deliberate in secret.
Of the Superior Council of the Judicial Power
Article 96
1. The Superior Council of the Judicial Power is the organ of Government of it.
It is composed of a President, who is the President of the Republic and six members appointed by the Head of State from among notable persons of recognized competence and moral solvency, for a period of five years.
2. An organic law shall regulate the structure of the Superior Council of the Judicial Power, its functioning and the juridical statute of its members.
Of the Supreme Court of Justice
Article 97
The Supreme Court of Justice is the maximum jurisdictional organ of all the orders, save for that provided in matters of constitutional guarantees, [and] is composed of a President and eight Magistrates.
Article 98
1. The President of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Magistrates that compose of it, are appointed by the President of the Republic for a period of five years.
2. The career Magistrates and the functionaries of the Administration of Justice are appointed and dismissed [separados] in accordance with the law.
Of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic
Article 99
The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic has the principal mission to see to the strict compliance with [cumplimiento] the legality and other provisions by all the organs of the State, the regions, the provinces, the districts and the municipalities, as well as [by] the citizens and the foreigners resident in the Country.
Article 100
1. The Attorney General of the Republic and the Adjunct Attorneys General are appointed and dismissed [separados] by the President of the Republic.
2. The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic is governed by an organic statute.
Chapter VI
Of the Constitutional Tribunal
Article 101
1. The Constitutional Tribunal is composed of a President and four members appointed by the President of the Republic; two of them on proposal of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate respectively. The period of [the] mandate of the Members of the Constitutional Tribunal will be of seven years.
2. The Constitutional Tribunal is competent:
a) To take cognizance of the recourses of unconstitutionality of the laws.
b) To take cognizance of the recourses of constitutional amparo against the provisions and acts which violate the rights and freedoms recognized in the Fundamental Law.
c) To proclaim the definitive results of the Presidential, Legislative, [and] Municipal Elections and the Operations of Referendum.
d) To declare the permanent physical or mental incapacity that constitute legal impediment to the fulfillment of the functions of the President of the Republic, of the Vice President of the Republic, of the President of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the President of the Senate.
e) To decide with binding character, concerning the constitutional legality of the regulatory development of the institutional laws.
f) To take cognizance of the conflicts between the constitutional organs.
g) To take cognizance concerning the declaration of unconstitutionality of the international treaties.
h) [Of] the other matters that the laws attribute to it.
Article 102
1. The legitimate organs to interpose recourses of unconstitutionality are:
a) The President of the Republic-Head of State.
b) The Vice President of the Republic and the Prime Minister.
c) The Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate with a qualified majority of the three-fourths part of their members.
d) The Attorney General of the Republic.
2. Any natural person or [person] having cause, that invokes a legitimate interest, can interpose [the] recourse of amparo.
Article 103
The members of the Constitutional Tribunal may not be Members of the Government, of the Chamber of the Deputies, of the Senate, of the Judicial Career or [an] Attorney, or occupy [ostentar] any public elective office.
Article 104
An organic law shall regulate the functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal, the statute of its members and the procedure for the exercise of actions before it.
Chapter VII
Of the Council of the Republic
Article 105
The Council of the Republic is a consultative Organ of political character of the State, responsible for [encargado] advising the President of the Republic in his management during his mandate and [assisting] the other powers of the State.
Article 106
The objective themes of advice of the Council of the Republic are:
a) The defense and the safeguarding of the Fundamental Law of Equatorial Guinea and the supreme values of the State.
b) The maintenance of the internal and external security of the State.
c) The defense and the maintenance of the national unity, the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of the State of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
d) The defense of the values of the autochthonous cultures, the Bantu and African identity, as well as universal civilization.
e) The defense and the maintenance of the State of Law and the democratic system of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
f) Those [cuantas] other questions submitted to it.
Article 107
The Council of the Republic is composed of nine members elected from among the Ex-Presidents of the Republic, the Ex-Presidents of the Chamber of the Deputies, the Ex-Presidents of the Senate, the Ex-Presidents of the Supreme Court of Justice and the Ex-Presidents of the Constitutional Tribunal, who have exercised their offices [cargos] with recognized honor and dignity, as well as other notable persons [personalidades] who by their honor and dignity merit such designation.
Article 108
1. The Members of the Council of the Republic will be appointed by the President of the Republic and have a term [duraci6n] of five years, which may be renewed.
2. The Ex-Presidents of the Republic will be life members of plain right of the Council of the Republic.
Article 109
The condition of Member of the Council of the Republic is incompatible with the offices [cargos] of members of other organs provided for in this Fundamental Law, the Ex-Presidents of the Republic excepted.
Article 110
The Members of the Council of the Republic cease in their functions in the following cases:
a) By expiration of the mandate.
b) By death.
c) For permanent mental incapacity.
Article 111
The Council of the Republic will be structured by:
a) A President, who will be preferentially one of the Ex-Presidents of the Republic.
b) A Vice President.
c) A Secretary.
d) Members [Vocales].
Article 112
A law shall develop the functions and competences of the Council of the Republic, as well as the immunities of its members.
Chapter VIII
Of the National Council for Economic and Social Development
Article 113
1. The National Council for Economic and Social Development, is the technical consultative organ concerning the economic and social plans and programs, as well as any legislative provision or regulation with fiscal character; [it] can also proceed, on the basis of a market economy, to [the] analysis of the problems of development of Equatorial Guinea.
2. The National Council for Economic and Social Development emits its criteria and submits its conclusions concerning all questions related to matters that have been submitted [puestas] to its study by the President of the Republic, the Chamber of the Deputies, the Senate and other organs of the Administration of the State.
3. It monitors [sigue] the execution of the decisions of the Government relative to economic and social organization.
Article 114
1. The National Council for Economic and Social Development is composed of technocrats [tcnicos], specialists and persons knowledgeable [responsibles] in questions of economic and social development. It is composed of 30 members, who are appointed by the President of the Republic for a period of five years.
2. The internal organization and the norms for the functioning of the National Council for Economic and Social Development are established by the law.
Chapter IX
Of the Tribunal of Accounts
Article 115
1. Fiscal control is a public function that will be exercised by the Tribunal of Accounts of the Republic, which sees to the transparency of the fiscal management of the Administration and of the individuals [particulares] or entities that handle funds or assets of the Nation. This control is exercised with selective subsequent [posterioridad] [review] in accordance with the procedures, systems and principles that the law establishes.
2. The Tribunal of Accounts is an entity of technical character with administrative and budgetary autonomy. It has no administrative functions separate [distintas] from those inherent in its own organization.
Article 116
All the notable persons [personalidades] of the State, [and] those salaried public [persons] and para-public [persons] must make a declaration of their patrimonial assets before exercising the functions to which they are appointed.
Article 117
1. The President and the members of the Tribunal of Accounts will be appointed by the President of the Republic.
2. The law establishes the number, duration of the mandate and the conditions of appointment of the President and the Members of the Tribunal of Accounts.
Article 118
The Tribunal of Accounts has the following attributions:
a) To prescribe the methods and the form of rendering accounts of those responsible for the handling of funds or assets of the Nation and to establish the criteria of financial evaluation, operative [evaluation] and [evaluation] of results that must be the object of permanent monitoring [seguimiento].
b) To revise and to control the accounts that those responsible of the public treasury must keep [llevar] and to determine the grade of efficacy and efficiency that have been produced [obrado].
c) To keep a register of the public debt of the Nation and [of] the local entities.
d) To require reports concerning fiscal management from the public employees of any order and from any person or public or private entity that administers funds or assets of the Nation.
e) To establish the responsibility that derives from fiscal management, propose the pecuniary sanctions that correspond and exercise the coercive [coactiva] jurisdiction concerning the deduced extent [alcances deducidos] of them.
f) to evaluate [conceptuar] concerning the quality and efficiency of the internal fiscal control of the entities and organs [organismos] of the State.
g) To present to the President of the Republic and to the Parliament an annual report concerning the fulfillment of its functions and to certify concerning the situation of the finances and accounts of the State.
h) To initiate [promover] before the competent authorities, providing [aportando] the respective evidence, criminal or disciplinary investigations which have caused prejudice to the patrimonial interests of the State. Under its responsibility, the
Tribunal of Accounts can require, truthfulness and good faith being respected [verdad sabida y buena fe guardada], the temporary suspension of functionaries until the investigations or the respective criminal or disciplinary processes culminate.
i) To present draft-bills [ante-proyectos] of laws relative to the regime of fiscal control, [and] the organization and the functioning of the Tribunal of Accounts.
j) The other functions that the law attributes to it.
Article 119
The results of the preliminary investigations advanced [adelantadas] by the Tribunal of Accounts will have probative value before the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic and before the competent judge.
Article 120
The law develops the structure and functioning of the Tribunal of Accounts.
Article 121
The law determines the manner of exercising control and vigilance over the management of the Tribunal of Accounts.
Chapter X
Of the Defender of the People
Article 122
The Defender of the People is the high commissioned [person] of the Chamber of the Deputies and of the Senate, designated by them for the defense of the rights of the citizens comprehended in this Fundamental Law, to which effect, he can supervise the activity of the Administration, giving account to the Chamber of the Deputies and to the Senate.
Article 123
The Defender of the People will be elected by the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate, [and] confirmed [ratificado] by the President of the Republic, for a period of five years.
Article 124
A mixed Chamber of the Deputies-Senate commission will be designated in the Parliament, responsible for relations with [relacionarse] the Defender of the People and reporting to the respective plenums on those [cuantas] occasions [that] are necessary.
Article 125
Any physical or juridical person that, regarding [ante] an matter that concerns them, considers that a public organ [organismo] has not functioned or acted in accordance with the mission of public service that is assigned to it, can interpose [the] recourse of amparo before [ante] the Defender of the People.
Article 126
Functions of the Defender of the People are:
a) To verify and mediate any irregular conduct in the relations between the public or private administration and the citizens.
b) To inform and to denounce before the competent organs concerning conduct not conforming to the laws.
c) To mediate in the conflicts that can arise [surgir] between the Administration and those administered to, proposing the corresponding solutions to the competent organs, according to the cases.
d) To take cognizance of the recourses of amparo and protection against the provisions and acts which violate the rights and freedoms recognized in this Fundamental Law.
Article 127
1. The Defender of the People is accessible to all persons.
2. The report emitted by the Defender of the People must be accessible to the public, save exceptional circumstances determined by the law [which] require the confidential character of them.
Article 128
The law establishes the organic and functional structure of the Defender of the People.
THIRD TITLE
OF THE ARMED FORCES, OF THE [FORCES] OF SECURITY OF THE STATE, AND OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
Article 129
The Armed Forces and [Forces] of Security of the State constitute the national institution that has for [its] primordial mission, to maintain the National Independence and the Territorial Integrity, to defend the National Sovereignty, to safeguard the supreme values of the Fatherland, the Security of the State, the
Public Order and the normal functioning of the Public Powers. The Armed Forces and [Forces] of Security of the State are governed by their own regulations.
Article 130
1. The National Defense is the organization and the participation of all the living forces and the moral and material resources of the Nation when the circumstances require it.
2. An organic regulation regulates the National Defense.
FOURTH TITLE
OF THE LOCAL CORPORATIONS
Article 131
The Local Corporation are institutions with their own juridical personality, responsible for the government and administration of the regions, provinces, districts, and municipalities. They promote the plans and programs of economic and social development in their respective territories in accordance with the law.
Article 132
1. The Local Corporations contribute to the realization of the functions and objectives of the State that this Fundamental Law establishes and they may only be created, modified, or suppressed by law.
2. The law determines the competences, the functioning, the jurisdiction and the composition of the Local Corporations.
FIFTH TITLE
OF REVISION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW
Article 133
1. The initiative of reform of this Fundamental Law corresponds to the President of the Republic or to the three-quarters part of the members of the Chamber of the Deputies or of the Senate.
2. The bills of constitutional revision to which the previous paragraph refers are dealt with in accordance with that established for bills or proposals of laws.
3. The proposals of reform of the Fundamental Law will be adopted by the affirmative vote of the three-fourths part of the members of the Chamber of the
Deputies and of the Senate.
4. The approval of the proposal of revision of the Fundamental Law in accordance with [that] established in the previous paragraph will become definitive, save when the President of the Republic decides to submit it to referendum, in which case the corresponding popular approval will make it definitive.
Article 134
The Republican and Democratic Regime of the State of Equatorial Guinea, the National Unity, and the Territorial Integrity may not be the object of any reform.
TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
FIRST. Until the new Institutions and Organs created by this Fundamental Law are placed in functioning, those actually existing remain in force.
SECOND. Until the Chamber of the Deputies and the Senate are constituted, the current Chamber of Representatives of the People will continue exercising the functions that the Fundamental Law recognizes to the Legislative Power of the State.
DEROGATORY PROVISION
Any provisions that oppose what is provided in this Fundamental Law are derogated.
FINAL PROVISION
This Fundamental Law enters into force from its promulgation by the President of the Republic, once having been adopted by Referendum and its publication in the Boletin Qficial del Estado [Official Gazette].
Concerning all that precedes, having fulfilled with rigor the legal provisions that the juridical order in force in the Country grants to the institutions and organs of the State and, conforming previously to the Final Provision of this Fundamental Law of Equatorial Guinea, I sanction and I promulgate this Fundamental Law, in the city of Bata, on the twenty-sixth of the month of February of the year 2012.