The sovereign public offices are: the President of the Republic, the Assembly of the Republic, the Government, the courts and the Constitutional Council.
Article 134. Separation and Interdependence
The sovereign public offices are established on the principles of separation and interdependence of powers enshrined in the Constitution, and shall owe obedience to the Constitution and the laws.
Article 135. General Principles of the Electoral System
The general rule shall be that the appointment of elective sovereign public offices and elective local and provincial offices shall take place through universal, direct, equal and periodic suffrage and by personal and secret ballot.
Results of elections shall be calculated according to the system of proportional representation.
Voter registration and electoral activity shall be the supervised by an independent and impartial body, the composition, organisation, operation and powers of which shall be established by law.
The electoral procedures shall be regulated by law.
Article 136. Referenda
Citizens who have been registered as voters within the national territory, and those living abroad who have been properly registered as voters, may be called to take part in referenda on major national issues.
The decision to call a referendum shall be taken by the President of the Republic upon the recommendation of the Assembly of the Republic, approved by an absolute majority of its members and on the initiative of at least one third of the deputies.
The following matters may not be the subject of referenda:
Amendments to the Constitution, with the exception of those in article 292 (1);
Matters referred to in article 179 (2).
If the matters referred to in article 179 (2) are the subject of an international convention, they may be submitted to a referendum, except where they concern peace and the changing of boundaries.
No referendum shall be called or held during the period between the calling and the holding of a general election for sovereign public offices.
A referendum shall be considered valid and binding only where at least half of the registered voters have voted in it.
In addition to the relevant provisions of the electoral law, specific legislation shall establish the conditions for setting up and for holding referenda.
Article 137. Incompatibility
The offices of President of the Republic, President of the Assembly of the Republic, Prime Minister, President of the Supreme Court, President of the Constitutional Council, President of the Administrative Court, Attorney General of the Republic, Ombudsman, Vice President of the Supreme Court, Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Deputy, Deputy Minister, Secretary of State, Provincial Governor, District Administrator, military personnel in active service shall be mutually incompatible.
The position of member of Government shall likewise be incompatible with the offices referred to in the preceding paragraph, with the exception of those of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister.
The law shall define other incompatibilities, including incompatibilities between public offices and private duties.
Article 138. Central Offices
Central State offices are: the sovereign public offices, governmental bodies as a whole, and such institutions as are responsible for guaranteeing that national interests prevail and that a unitary State policy is implemented.
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Central State offices shall, in general, have power to exercise sovereign functions, to regulate matters in accordance with the law, and to define national policies.
The central offices shall have exclusive powers in the following matters: representation of the State, definition and organisation of the territory, national defence, public order, supervision of borders, issuing of currency, and diplomatic relations.
Article 140. Heads and Agents of Public Offices
Central offices shall take action directly, or through appointed heads or agents of the administration, who shall supervise central activities within a particular territorial area.
The law shall determine the form, organisation and powers for the exercise of Public Administration.
Article 141. Provincial Government
The representative of the Government at provincial level is the Provincial Governor.
The Provincial Government is the body charged with ensuring the implementation, at provincial level, of centrally defined Government policies, and it shall exercise administrative supervision over local authorities, in accordance with the law.
Members of the Provincial Government shall be appointed by the Ministers responsible for the particular portfolios, in consultation with the Provincial Governor.
The organisation, composition, functioning and powers of Provincial Government shall be defined by law.
Article 142. Provincial Assemblies
Provincial assemblies shall be democratically representative bodies elected by universal, direct suffrage and by secret ballot, in accordance the principle of proportional representation, and their terms of office shall be five years.
Provincial assemblies shall, in particular, have the power to:
supervise and monitor adherence to principles and norms established in the Constitution and in the laws, as well as the observance of decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to the particular province;
approve the Provincial Government programme and supervise and monitor compliance with it.
The composition, organisation, operation and other powers shall be defined by law.
Article 143. Normative Acts
Legislative acts shall consist of laws and decree-laws.
Acts of the Assembly of the Republic shall take the form of laws, motions and resolutions.
Decree-laws are legislative acts passed by the Council of Ministers pursuant to authorisation from the Assembly of the Republic.
Regulatory acts of the Government shall take the form of Decrees, whether they are made under the authority of a regulatory law or are made as autonomous regulations.
Acts of the Governor of the Bank of Mozambique, in the exercise of his powers, shall take the form of notices.
Article 144. Publicity
The following shall be published in the Boletim da República (Government Gazette), under pain of having no legal effect:
laws, motions and resolutions of the Assembly of the Republic;
decrees of the President of the Republic;
decree-laws, decrees, resolutions and other legal instruments issued by the Government;
decisions of the Supreme Court and judgements of the Constitutional Council, as well as the decisions of other courts to which the law attributes general binding force;
judgements on the results of elections and national referenda; f) resolutions ratifying international treaties and agreements; g) notices issued by the Governor of the Bank of Mozambique.
The law shall define the publicity requirements applicable to other public legal instruments.
Article 145. Representation of Central Offices
The state offices shall insure that they are represented at all territorial levels.
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