Mozambique 2004 Constitution (reviewed 2007)

TITLE XI. CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL

Article 241. Definition

1. The Constitutional Council is a sovereign public office with special jurisdiction to administer justice in matters of a legal-constitutional nature.
2. The law shall determine the organisation, the functioning, the procedures for scrutiny and control of constitutionality and of the legality of normative acts, and all other powers of the Constitutional Council.

Article 242. Composition

1. The Constitutional Council shall consist of seven judges of appeal, appointed in the following manner:
   1. one judge of appeal, who shall be the President of the Constitutional Council, appointed by the President of the Republic;
   2. five judges of appeal appointed by the Assembly of the Republic according to principles of proportional representation;
   3. one judge of appeal appointed by the Superior Council of the Judiciary.
2. Judges of the Constitutional Council shall be appointed for renewable terms of five years and they shall enjoy a guarantee of independence, security of tenure, impartiality and unaccountability.
3. At the time of their appointment, Judges of the Constitutional Council shall be of at least thirty-five years of age and shall have at least ten years of professional experience in the judiciary or in practice at the bar or in teaching law.

Article 243. Incompatibility

Judges of the Constitutional Council in office may not undertake any other public or private activity, except for teaching, legal research, or other activities of scientific, literary, artistic and technical dissemination or publication, with prior authorisation from the relevant body.

Article 244. Powers

1. The Constitutional Council shall have power to:
   1. evaluate and declare the unconstitutionality of laws and the illegality of normative acts of State offices;
   2. settle conflicts of jurisdiction between the sovereign public offices;
   3. make prior evaluations of the constitutionality of referenda.
2. The Constitutional Council shall also:
   1. verify the legal prerequisites required of candidates for the office of President of the Republic;
   2. pronounce upon the permanent incapacity of the President of the Republic;
   3. verify the death and the divestiture of the President of the Republic;
   4. evaluate electoral complaints and appeals in the last instance, and validate and proclaim electoral results, in the terms of the law;
   5. decide, in the last instance, on the legality of the establishment of political parties and coalitions, as well as evaluate the legality of their names, acronyms and symbols, and order their dissipation in the terms of the Constitution and the laws;
   6. adjudicate actions contesting elections and the deliberations of political parties, as well as the legality of their names, acronyms and symbols;
   7. adjudicate actions concerning disputes about the terms of office of deputies;
   8. adjudicate actions concerning incompatibilities established in the Constitution and in the law.
3. The Constitutional Council shall exercise such other powers as may be assigned to it in terms of the law.

Article 245. Request for Evaluation of Unconstitutionality

1. The Constitutional Council shall with, general binding force, evaluate and pronounce upon the unconstitutionality of laws and the illegality of other normative acts of State offices, at any time during which they are in force.
2. The following may request the Constitutional Council to pronounce upon the unconstitutionality of laws, or on the illegality of normative acts of State offices:
   1. the President of the Republic;
   2. the President of the Assembly of the Republic;
   3. at least one third of the deputies of the Assembly of the Republic;
   4. the Prime Minister;
   5. the Attorney General of the Republic;
   6. the Ombudsman;
   7. two thousand citizens.
3. The law shall establish rules on the admission of actions for the evaluation of unconstitutionality.

Article 246. Anticipatory Finding of Constitutionality

1. The President of the Republic may request the Constitutional Council to carry out an anticipatory evaluation of the constitutionality of any legal instrument sent to him for enactment.
2. Anticipatory evaluation of constitutionality shall be requested within the time limit established in article 163 (2).
3. When an evaluation of constitutionality has been requested, the time limit for enactment shall be interrupted.
4. If the Constitutional Council finds that there is no unconstitutionality, the new time limit for enactment shall run from the date upon which the President of the Republic is informed of the decision of the Constitutional Council.
5. If the Constitutional Council makes a finding of unconstitutionality, the President of the Republic shall veto the bill and return it to the Assembly of the Republic.

Article 247. Appeals

1. Supreme Court decisions harmonising questions of law and other decisions made on grounds of unconstitutionality must be referred to the Constitutional Council in the following cases:
   1. in the event of a refusal to apply any rule on grounds of its unconstitutionality;
   2. when the Attorney General of the Republic or the Public Prosecution Service requests an abstract evaluation of the constitutionality or legality of a rule whose application has been refused, on grounds of unconstitutionality or illegality, by judicial decision from which there is no appeal.
2. The law shall regulate the rules on admissibility of appeals contemplated in this provision.

Article 248. Judgements Binding and Unappealable

1. Judgements of the Constitutional Council shall be binding on all citizens, institutions and other legal persons, they shall not be subject to appeal and they shall prevail over other decisions.
2. A person who fails to comply with the judgements referred to in this article shall be guilty of the criminal offence of contempt, unless a more serious crime applies.
3. The decisions of the Constitutional Council shall be published in the Boletim da República.