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Senator for life
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A senator for life is a member of the senate elected or appointed for lifetime. Currently, a few members of the Italian Senate are lifetime senators. Several South American countries once granted lifetime membership to former presidents but have since abolished that practice.
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In Italy, a senatore a vita is a member of the Italian Senate appointed by the President of the Italian Republic "for outstanding patriotic merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field". Former Presidents of the Republic are ex officio life senators. A limit of five senators for life, excluding former Presidents, is established by the Italian constitution. They have the same equal power of elected senators, including the right to vote and being elected to the Presidency of the Senate. In addition, their mandate does not end with the dissolution of a Senate, allowing them to sit in any elected Senate for their whole lifetime.
Every President of the Italian Republic has made at least one appointment of a senator for life, with the exception of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, and sitting President Giorgio Napolitano so far. The president who appointed the highest number of senators for life was Luigi Einaudi, who made eight nominations during his mandate.
Currently, there are seven of them still alive in office (shown in bold).
In Burundi, former heads of state serve in the Senate for life. At present there are four of these: Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, Pierre Buyoya, and Domitien Ndayizeye.[5][6]
Members of the Canadian Senate used to be appointed for life. Since the Constitution Act, 1965, however, newly-appointed members face mandatory retirement upon reaching the age of seventy-five. Though they were grandfathered by the legislation, there are no longer any lifetime senators present in the Canadian Senate. John Michael Macdonald, the last senator for life, died in 1997.
| Lists of past and present Members of the Canadian Senate |
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The constitutions of a number of countries in South America have granted former presidents the right to be senator for life (senador vitalicio), possibly recalling the entirely unelected Senate of Bolivarian theory (see Tricameralism#Bolivar's tricameralism). Most of these countries have since excised these provisions as they are increasingly seen as antidemocratic. The Constitution of Paraguay still has such a provision, but former presidents are permitted only to speak and not vote. Probably the most familiar case is that of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (1998-2002) whose parliamentary immunity protected him from prosecution for human rights violations until the Chilean Supreme Court revoked it in 2000.
- In Venezuela, the lifetime senate seat was extant from 1961 to 1999. The former Presidents who held this position were: Rómulo Betancourt (1964-1981), Raúl Leoni (1969-1972), Rafael Caldera (1974-1994, 1999), Carlos Andrés Pérez (1979-1989, 1994-1996), Luis Herrera Campins (1984-1999) and Jaime Lusinchi (1989-1999). The senate was abolished with the 1999 constitution.
- In Peru, the practice was extant from 1979 to 1993. Francisco Morales Bermúdez, Fernando Belaúnde Terry and Alan García Pérez were the only lifetime senators until the abolition of the senate in 1993 and the introduction of a unicameral parliament.
- In Chile, under the 1980 Constitution, two ex-Presidents have become senators-for-life: Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (1998-2002) and Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (2000-2006).[7] The provision was abolished by constitutional reforms in 2005.
- The senators of the Empire of Brazil were appointed for lifetime (1826-1889). The emperor appointed the senator for each constituency from a list of three, indirectly elected, candidates. For details, see Senate of Brazil: History [8].
In France, during the Third Republic, the Senate was composed of 300 members, 75 of which were inamovible ("unremovable"). Introduced in 1875, the status was suppressed for new senators in 1884, but maintained for those in office. Émile Deshayes de Marcère, the last surviving sénateur inamovible, died in 1918. Overall there had been 116 lifetime senators. [9]
- ^ Cossiga resigned 27 November 2006, however his demission was rejected by a Senate vote on 31 January, 2007
- ^ Leone was life senator from 1967 to 1971 by appointment and from 1978 to his death (2001) ex officio, as former president.
- ^ Napolitano was senator for life before becoming president
- ^ Toscanini was appointed on 5 December 1949, but declined the next day.
- ^ "Post-transition Senators list", Burundian Senate website] (French).
- ^ "The Senate composition", Burundian Senate website] (French).
- ^ Mr. Frei retained his senate seat by being democratically elected in the December 2005 parliamentary elections and is currently President of the Senate.
- ^ For the list of senators, see pt:Lista de senadores do Brasil
- ^ Les sénateurs inamovibles
- Senato.it: Senatori a vita (Italian) — current Italian lifetime senators