Art. 42
The members of the two Chambers represent the Nation, and not only those who elected them.
Art. 43
§ 1. For cases determined by the Constitution, the elected members of each Chamber are divided into a French linguistic group and a Dutch linguistic group, in the manner determined by law.
§ 2. The senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 2°, 4° and 7°, make up the French linguistic group of the Senate. The Senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 1°, 3° and 6°, make up the Dutch linguistic group of the Senate.
Art. 44
The Chambers meet by right each year on the second Tuesday of October, unless they have been called together prior to this by the King.
The Chambers must meet each year for at least forty days.
The King pronounces the closing of the session.
The King has the right to convoke the Chambers to an extraordinary meeting.
Art. 45
The King can adjourn the Chambers. However, the adjournment cannot exceed the period of one month, nor be renewed in the same session without the consent of the Chambers.
Art. 46
The King has only the right to dissolve the Chamber of Representatives if the latter, with the absolute majority of its members:
1° either rejects a motion of confidence in the Federal Government and does not propose to the King, within three days from the day of the rejection of the motion, the nomination of a successor to the Prime Minister;
2° or adopts a motion of disapproval with regard to the Federal Government and does not simultaneously propose to the King the nomination of a successor to the Prime Minister;
The motions of confidence and disapproval can only be voted on after a delay of forty-eight hours after the introduction of the motion.
Moreover, the King may, in the event of the resignation of the Federal Government, dissolve the Chamber of Representatives after having received its agreement expressed by the absolute majority of its members.
The dissolution of the Chamber of Representatives entails the dissolution of the Senate.
The act of dissolution involves the convoking of the electorate within forty days and of the Chambers within two months.
Art. 47
The sessions of the Chambers are public.
Nevertheless, each Chamber can meet in a secret committee, at the request of its president or of ten members.
It can decide afterwards, by absolute majority, if a session on the same subject has to be held again in public.
Art. 48
Each Chamber controls the powers of its members and judges any dispute that can be raised on this matter.
Art. 49
It is not possible to be a member of both Chambers at the same time.
Art. 50
Any member of one of the two Chambers, appointed by the King as a minister and who accepts this nomination, ceases to sit in the Chamber and takes up his mandate again when the King has put an end to his functions as a minister. The law provides for the terms of his replacement in the Chamber concerned.
Art. 51
Any member of either of the two Chambers, appointed by the Federal Government to any salaried function other than that of minister and who
accepts the appointment, immediately ceases to sit in the Chamber and only takes his functions up again by virtue of a new election.
Art. 52
At each session, each of the Chambers appoints its president, its vice-presidents, and forms its committee.
Art. 53
Any resolution is made by absolute majority of votes, except with regard to what is established by the regulations of the Chambers with regard to elections and presentations.
If the votes are divided, the proposal submitted for discussion is rejected.
Neither of the two Chambers can take a resolution until the majority of its members are in session.
Art. 54
With the exception of budgets and laws requiring a special majority, a justified motion, signed by at least three-quarters of the members of one of the linguistic groups and introduced following the introduction of the report and prior to the final vote in a public session, can declare that the provisions of a draft bill or of a motion are of a nature to gravely damage relations between the communities.
In this case, the parliamentary procedure is suspended and the motion
referred to the Council of Ministers which, within thirty days, gives its
justified recommendations on the motion and invites the implicated Chamber to express its opinion on these recommendations or on the draft bill or motion that has been revised if need be.
This procedure can only be applied once by the members of a linguistic group with regard to the same bill or motion.
Art. 55
Votes are given by rising or remaining seated or by call-over; most of the laws are voted by call-over.
The election and presentation of candidates are carried out by secret ballot.
Art. 56
Each Chamber has the right to hold an enquiry.
Art. 57
It is forbidden to present petitions to the Chambers in person.
Each Chamber has the right to send back to the ministers the petitions that are addressed to it. The ministers are obliged to give explanations about their content, each time that the Chamber so requires.
Art. 58
No member of either of the two Chambers can be prosecuted or pursued with regard to opinions and votes given by him in the exercise of his duties.
Art. 59
Except in the case of a flagrant offence, no member of any Chamber may, during a session, be directly remanded or summoned before a court or tribunal regarding repressive matters nor be arrested except with the authorisation of the Chamber of which he is a member.
Except in the case of a flagrant offence, restraining measures requiring the intervention of a judge cannot be instituted against a member of any Chamber for the duration of a session, regarding repressive matters, except by the first President of the Court of Appeal at the demand of the competent judge. This decision is communicated to the President of the concerned Chamber.
All searches or seizures executed by virtue of the paragraph above can be performed only in the presence of the President of the Chamber concerned or a member appointed by him.
During the session, only the officers of the public prosecutor's department and competent officers may institute repressive proceedings against a member of any Chamber.
The member of any Chamber in question may at all stages of the investigations regarding repressive measures, request for the duration of the session that the Chamber of whom he is a member suspend the proceedings. The Chamber in question must grant this request if supported by a majority of two-thirds of the votes given.
Detention of a member of any Chamber or his investigation by a court or Tribunal is suspended for the duration of the session if the Chamber of whom he is a member so requests.
Art. 60
Each Chamber determines, by its regulations, the way in which it
exercises its duties.
Art. 61
The members of the Chamber of Representatives are elected directly by citizens who have completed the age of eighteen and
who do not fall within the categories of exclusion stipulated by law.
Each elector has the right to only one vote.
Art. 62
The establishing of the constituencies or electoral colleges is governed by law.
Elections are carried out by the system of proportional representation that the law determines.
The ballot is obligatory and secret. It takes place at the «commune»,
except in the cases determined by law.
Art. 63
§ 1. The Chamber of Representatives is made up of one hundred and fifty members.
§ 2. Each electoral circumscription has as many seats as the number of the members of its population contains a multiple of the federal divisor, obtained by dividing the number of the population of the Kingdom by one hundred and fifty.
The remaining seats are attributed to the electoral circumscriptions which have the greatest surplus of population not yet represented.
§ 3. The sharing of the members of the Chamber of Representatives among the electoral circumscriptions is allocated to the population by the King.
The size of the population of each electoral circumscription is determined
every ten years by a census or by any other means defined by law. The King publishes the results within a period of six months.
During the three months of this publication, the King determines the number of seats attributed to each electoral circumscription. The new distribution is applied as of the following general election.
§ 4. The law determines the electoral circumscriptions; it also determines the conditions required to be an elector as well as those for the carrying out of electoral operations.
Art. 64
To be eligible, one must:
1° be Belgian;
2° enjoy civil and political rights;
3° have completed the age of twenty-one;
4° be legally resident in Belgium.
No other condition of eligibility can be required.
Art. 65
The members of the Chamber of Representatives are elected for four years.
The Chamber is renewed every four years.
Art. 66
Each member of the Chamber of Representatives benefits from an annual indemnity of twelve thousand francs.
Within the national borders, the members of the House of Representatives shall have the right to move without expense over any and all means of transportation which are operated by or conceded to government authorities.
An annual indemnity to be deducted from the allocation destined to cover the expenditure of the Chamber of Representatives can be attributed to the President of this assembly.
The Chamber determines the amount of the deductions that can be applied to the indemnity by way of a contribution to the pension funds that it judges necessary to establish.
Art. 67
§ 1. Without prejudice to Article 72, the Senate is made up of seventy-one senators, of whom:
1° twenty-five senators elected in conformity with Article 61, by the Dutch electoral college;
2° fifteen senators elected in conformity with Article 61, by the French electoral college;
3° ten senators appointed by and within the Council of the Flemish Community, named the Flemish Council.
4° ten senators appointed by and within the Council of the French Community.
5° one senator appointed by and within the Council of the German Community.
6° six senators appointed by the senators referred to in 1° and 3°;
7° four senators appointed by the senators referred to in 2° and 4°.
§ 2. At least one of the senators referred to in §1, 1°, 3° and 6° is to be legally resident, on the day of his election, in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital.
At least six of the senators referred to in §1, 2°, 4° and 7° are to be legally resident, on the day of their election, in the bilingual region of Brussels-
Capital. If four or fewer of the senators referred to in §1, 2° are not legally resident, on the day of their election, in the bilingual region of Brussels-
Capital, at least two of the senators referred to in §1, 4° must be legally resident, on the day of their election, in the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital.
Art. 68
§1. The total number of senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 1°, 2°, 4°, 6° and 7°, is shared within each linguistic group on the basis of the electoral figure of the lists obtained at the moment of the election of the senators
referred to in Article 67, §1, 1° and 2°, according to the system of proportional representation that is determined by law.
For the designation of the senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 3° and 4°, only the lists can be taken into consideration on which at least one senator referred to in Article 67, §1, 1° and 2°, is elected and from the moment that a sufficient number of members elected on this list sit, according to the case, on the Council of the Flemish Community or the Council of the French Community. For the designation of the senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 6° and 7° only the lists can be taken into consideration on which at least one senator referred to in Article 67, §1, 1° and 2°, is elected.
§ 2. For the election of the senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 1° and 2°, the ballot is obligatory and secret.
Voting takes place at the «commune», except for cases determined by law.
§ 3. For the election of senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 1° and 2°, the law determines the electoral circumscriptions and the composition of the
electoral colleges; it also determines the conditions which must be met in
order to be an elector, as well as those for the carrying out of electoral
operations. The law determines the designation of the senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 3° and 5°, with the exception of the terms stipulated by a law adopted by the majority provided for in Article 4, last paragraph, which are determined by decree by the Community Councils, each one for matters of its concern. This decree must be adopted by a two-third majority of the votes expressed, on condition that the majority of the members of the Council
concerned are present.
The senator referred to in Article 67, §1, 5°, is appointed by the Council of the German community with absolute majority of the votes expressed.
The law determines the appointment of the senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 6° and 7°.
Art. 69
In order to be elected or appointed as a senator one must:
1° be Belgian;
2° enjoy civil and political rights;
3° have completed the age of twenty-one;
4° be legally resident in Belgium.
Art. 70
The senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 1° and 2° are elected for four years. The senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 6° and 7° are appointed for four years. The senate is entirely renewed every four years.
The election of the senators referred to in Article 67, §1, 1° and 2°,
coincides with the election for the Chamber of Representatives.
Art. 71
Senators do not receive a salary. They do, however, have the right to be compensated for any disbursement; this compensation is fixed at four
thousand francs per year.
Within the national borders, the members of the Senate shall have the right to move without expense over any and all means of transportation which are operated by or conceded to government authorities.
Art. 72
The King’s children or, in the absence of children, the Belgian descendants of the branch of the royal family called on to reign, are senators by right at the age of eighteen.
They are only entitled to a seat and vote at the age of twenty-one.
They are not taken into account for the determination of the quorum of attendance.
Art. 73
Any assembly of the Senate that takes place outside the time of the session of the Chamber of Representatives, is automatically void.
