CHAPTER 4

PARLIAMENT

Article 32 — Parliament as the Supreme Representative Institution

  1. Parliament is the supreme representative institution of the Republic and exercises legislative power on behalf of the people.

  2. Parliament consists of two chambers: a) the Lower House; b) the Upper House.

  3. Parliament acts continuously within the term established by this Constitution and may not transfer its legislative power to any other body or person. Any purported transfer of legislative power is void; the Constitutional Court shall annul it upon application by any person with standing under this Constitution.

  4. Parliament shall exercise legislative, budgetary, oversight, appointment, ratification, and other constitutional powers in the manner provided by this Constitution.

Article 33 — Constitutional Status of Parliament

  1. Parliament expresses the democratic will of the people through representation, legislation, oversight of the Government, and protection of the constitutional order.

  2. Parliament shall act publicly, collegially, and transparently.

  3. Closed parliamentary sessions shall be permitted only in cases expressly established by constitutional law and only where strictly necessary to protect national defense information, ongoing security operations, or personal data protected by law. Any sitting conducted as closed in violation of this Article is unconstitutional; acts adopted in such sitting shall be subject to annulment by the Constitutional Court.

  4. A closed session may not be used to adopt constitutional amendments, election laws, laws on rights and freedoms, or laws on the budget, taxation, media, parties, referendums, emergency powers, or judicial independence.

Article 34 — Term of Parliament

  1. The term of both chambers of Parliament is five years.

  2. Elections to both chambers shall be held within the same general electoral cycle, unless this Constitution provides otherwise.

  3. Parliament shall remain in office until the first sitting of the newly elected Parliament.

  4. No extension of the parliamentary term is permitted except during a constitutionally declared state of emergency in response to armed aggression where nationwide elections are objectively impossible, and only under the conditions of Article 136 of this Constitution.

Article 35 — Free Mandate of Deputies

  1. Deputies of both chambers represent the people and the Republic as a whole.

  2. Deputies are bound only by the Constitution, their oath, and their conscience.

  3. Imperative mandates are prohibited.

  4. No political party, donor, public official, corporation, association, or other person may compel a deputy to vote in a particular manner under threat of legal, economic, administrative, or political retaliation contrary to law.

  5. Party discipline may be exercised only by lawful internal parliamentary means and may not nullify the constitutional independence of the deputy.

Article 35a — Protection of the Free Mandate and Integrity of Deputies

  1. Any attempt to coerce, bribe, threaten, or unduly influence a deputy in the exercise of their mandate is prohibited and shall be punishable by law.

  2. A deputy who claims that their mandate is being coerced may file an immediate complaint with the Speaker of their chamber. If unresolved within forty-eight hours, the deputy may petition the Constitutional Court for interim relief. Constitutional law shall establish procedures for investigation, sanctions, asset disclosure, and temporary suspension of duties where proportional and judicially ordered.

Article 36 — Publicity and Transparency of Parliamentary Activity

  1. Sittings of both chambers, committees, and joint bodies shall be public, broadcast, and archived in accessible digital form, except where this Constitution permits a closed sitting.

  2. Draft laws, amendments, and committee reports shall be published within twenty-four hours of registration or adoption in an official public digital system. Voting records shall be published within two hours of each recorded vote. Attendance records and conflicts-of-interest declarations shall be published within forty-eight hours of the relevant session or filing. Final promulgated texts shall be published on the day of promulgation or deemed promulgation.

  3. Every citizen shall have the right to monitor parliamentary proceedings through open physical or digital access, subject only to reasonable technical and security rules established by law.

  4. Voting in Parliament shall be personal and recorded. Proxy voting is prohibited.

Article 36a — Publication, Transparency, and Committee Powers

  1. Parliament shall ensure publicity, publication, archiving, and effective committee oversight as required by this Constitution.

  2. Constitutional law shall specify: a) the duties and operation of the Parliamentary Secretariat or equivalent publication system, including publication timelines and archival standards; b) the procedural powers, guarantees, and limits of parliamentary committees for investigations and oversight, including access to evidence and protection of rights; c) the narrowly defined grounds, procedures, and judicial safeguards for closed sessions; d) enforcement mechanisms, sanctions, expedited judicial review, and interim relief to protect the free mandate, transparency, and effective parliamentary oversight.

  3. Until constitutional law prescribes detailed procedures, existing parliamentary rules shall remain in force but must conform to the principles of publicity, accountability, and judicial review set out in this Chapter.

Article 36b — Composition of Parliament

  1. The Lower House shall consist of one hundred fifty (150) deputies elected by universal, equal, direct, and secret suffrage across twenty (20) electoral districts established by this Constitution.

  2. The electoral districts of the Lower House are: a) one district for each of the seventeen (17) counties of the Republic; b) one district for each of the three (3) cities of republican significance.

  3. All one hundred fifty (150) seats shall be allocated among the twenty districts by applying the Sainte-Laguë method to the population of each district. The minimums in paragraph 3a operate as a floor only: no district receives fewer than its guaranteed minimum regardless of its Sainte-Laguë result. The Sainte-Laguë method, not the minimums, determines the actual seat count of each district.

3a. Guaranteed minimums (floor only, not the allocation formula): a) each county district: three (3) seats; b) each city of republican significance district: two (2) seats.

3b. If a district’s Sainte-Laguë result falls below its guaranteed minimum, that district receives the minimum and the remaining seats are reallocated among the other districts by the same method until all one hundred fifty (150) seats are distributed.

  1. The Upper House shall consist of twenty (20) senators: one (1) senator from each of the seventeen (17) counties, and one (1) senator from each of the three (3) cities of republican significance.

  2. Any change to the total number of deputies or senators, or to the district structure established in paragraphs 2 and 3, shall require a constitutional amendment.