30.     Office of President

          There shall be a President of the Republic of Botswana who shall be the Head of State.

31.     First President

          (1) The first President shall be the person who immediately before 30th September, 1966 holds the office of Prime Minister under the Constitution.

          (2) The first President shall be deemed to have assumed office at the coming into operation of this Constitution.

32.     Election of President after dissolution of Parliament

          (1) Whenever Parliament is dissolved an election shall be held to the office of President in such manner as is prescribed by this section and, subject thereto, by or under an Act of Parliament.

          (2) Nominations in the election of a President shall be delivered to the returning officer on such day and at such time as may be prescribed by or under any law for the time being in force in Botswana; the nomination of a candidate in an election of a President shall not be valid unless it is supported, in such manner as may be prescribed by or under an Act of Parliament, by not less than 1000 persons registered as voters for the purpose of elections to the Assembly.

          (3) The following provisions shall then apply-

    (a)     a person nominated as a Parliamentary candidate may, at the time of his or her nomination and subject to the provisions of paragraph (b), declare in such manner as may be prescribed by or under an Act of Parliament which of the candidates in the election of President he or she supports, but the nomination of a Parliamentary candidate shall be valid notwithstanding that the nomination paper does not contain such a declaration;

    (b)     such a declaration shall not be made in relation to any Presidential candidate unless that candidate has signified, in such manner as may be prescribed by or under an Act of Parliament, his or her consent to the making of a declaration in his or her favour by that Parliamentary candidate;

    (c)     where the Parliamentary election is contested in any constituency a poll shall be taken in that constituency at which the votes shall be given by ballot, and for the purposes of that poll any Parliamentary candidate who declared support in accordance with paragraph (a) for a particular Presidential candidate shall use the same voting colour and symbol, if any, as may have been allocated under any law for the time being in force in Botswana to that Presidential candidate for the purposes of the Presidential election;

    (d)     the returning officer shall declare to be elected as President any candidate for whom support has been declared in accordance with paragraph (a) above by not less than such number of persons elected as Members of the National Assembly in the Parliamentary election as corresponds to more than half the total number of seats for Elected Members in the Assembly, and if there is no such person the returning officer shall declare that no candidate has been elected.

          (4) Parliament may make provision whereby the time for nominating Presidential candidates may be extended in the event of there being no qualified candidate nominated at the expiration of the time for the delivery of such nominations.

          (5) Where, at the expiration of the time for the delivery of nominations in the election of a President, more than one qualified candidate is validly nominated and any of those candidates dies before the commencement of the poll in the Parliamentary election, the poll in the Parliamentary election shall be countermanded, fresh nominations of Parliamentary candidates shall take place in every constituency and a fresh election of a President shall be held in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section.

          (6) Where-

    (a)     any candidate in an election of a President dies during the period commencing with the taking of the poll in the Parliamentary election and ending when the result of the election has been ascertained and that candidate would, but for his or her death, have been entitled to have been declared elected as President under subsection (3) of this section; or

    (b)     the returning officer declares in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3)(d) of this section that no candidate has been elected,

the new National Assembly shall meet on such day (not being more than 14 days after the result of the election is ascertained or, as the case may be, the declaration that no candidate has been elected) as the Speaker shall appoint, and shall elect a person to the office of President in such manner as is prescribed by section 35(5) of this Constitution and subject thereto by or under an Act of Parliament. Such an election shall take place before the election of the Specially Elected Members of the National Assembly.

          (7) A person elected to the office of President under this section shall assume that office on the day upon which he or she is declared elected.

          (8) Without prejudice to the provisions of section 92 of this Constitution, an Elected Member of the National Assembly may, in the event of there being one or more successful election petitions following a general election, move, at the first sitting of the Assembly after the resultant by-elections have been decided and the Members thereby elected have taken their seats, that the President does not enjoy the support of the majority of the Elected Members of the Assembly; and in the voting on that question the Specially Elected Members of the Assembly shall have no vote. If it appears as a result of the voting on that question that the President does not enjoy the support of a majority of the elected Members of the Assembly, the office of President shall become vacant.

          (9) Any Elected Member of the Assembly may give notice to the President that he or she intends to move in the Assembly a motion under subsection (8) and notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution the President shall not after receipt of any such notice be empowered to dissolve Parliament before the conclusion of the sitting of the Assembly mentioned in the said subsection (8).

          (10) If the office of President becomes vacant in accordance with subsection (8) of this section the seats of the Specially Elected Members of the Assembly shall also become vacant, and the election of a person to the office of President shall take place before the election of the Specially Elected Members.

          (11) In this section-

          "Parliamentary candidate" means a candidate in the Parliamentary election;

          "the Parliamentary election" means the general election to elect those Members of the National Assembly who are referred to in section 58(2)(a) of this Constitution following any dissolution of Parliament;

          "Presidential candidate" means a candidate for the office of President;

          "the returning officer" means the returning officer specified in section 38 of this Constitution.

33.     Qualification for election as President

          (1) A person shall be qualified for election as President if, and shall not be qualified unless, he or she-

    (a)     is a citizen of Botswana by birth or descent;

    (b)     has attained the age of 30 years; and

    (c)     is qualified to be elected as a Member of the National Assembly.

          (2) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, for the purposes of this section and section 39-

    (a)     the term "citizen by birth" shall be understood to include only those persons who became citizens of Botswana prior to the amendment of the law relating to citizenship by the Citizenship Act;

    (b)     any person who, although his or her father was a citizen of Botswana at the time of that person's birth, had, by virtue of his or her having been born outside Botswana, to be registered as a citizen of Botswana, under the law relating to citizenship in force at that time, shall be regarded as a citizen by descent.

34.     Tenure of office of President

          (1) The President shall, subject to the provisions of this section, hold office for an aggregate period not exceeding 10 years beginning from the date of his or her first assumption of office of President after the commencement of this Act.

          (2) The President shall cease to hold the office of President if at any time during his or her tenure of office any circumstances arise that would, if he or she were not a member of the National Assembly, cause him or her to be disqualified for election thereto.

          (3) The President shall cease to hold office of President at the expiry of the period prescribed under subsection (1) of this section, or when the person elected at the next election of President following a dissolution of Parliament assumes office.

35.     Vacancy in office of President

          (1) Whenever the President dies, resigns or ceases to hold office, the Vice-President shall assume office as President with effect from the date of the death, resignation or ceasing to be President.

          (2) If the office of President-

    (a)     becomes vacant in circumstances in which there is no Vice-President; or

    (b)     is vacant whilst the Vice-President is absent from Botswana or is, by reason of physical or mental infirmity unable to perform the functions of his or her office,

the functions of the office of President shall, until such time as a new President assumes office in accordance with this section or section 32 of this Constitution, be performed by such Minister as the Cabinet shall appoint. For the purposes of this subsection, a certificate of the Chief Justice that the Vice-President is by reason of physical or mental infirmity unable to discharge the functions of his or her office, shall, in respect of any period for which it is in force, be conclusive and shall not be questioned in any court.

          (3) Any person performing the functions of the office of President by virtue of subsection (1) or (2) of this section shall not exercise the power of the President to revoke the appointment of Vice-President or to dissolve Parliament.

          (4) If the office of President becomes vacant, the National Assembly shall, unless Parliament is dissolved, and notwithstanding that it may be prorogued, meet on the seventh day after the office of President becomes vacant, or on such earlier day as may be appointed by the Speaker, and shall elect a person to the office in such manner as is prescribed by the next following subsection and, subject thereto, by or under an Act of Parliament.

          (5) In an election of a President under this section-

    (a)     the Speaker shall preside at the meeting and conduct the election;

    (b)     a person may be a candidate if and shall not be a candidate unless he or she has been nominated as a candidate with his or her consent prior to the sitting of the National Assembly at which the election takes place, by not less than 10 Members of the National Assembly entitled to vote in that election;

    (c)     at the election every Member of the Assembly except the Speaker shall be entitled to vote;

    (d)     the votes of the Members of the Assembly who are entitled to vote shall be given by ballot in such manner as not to disclose how any particular Member voted, and any person who receives the votes of more than one half of the total number of persons entitled to vote shall be declared elected as President;

    (e)     a person elected as President under this section shall assume the office of President on the day upon which he or she is declared to be elected;

    (f)      not more than three ballots shall be taken unless in the opinion of the Speaker the holding of further ballots is likely to result in the election of a President, in which case not more than two further ballots may be taken;

    (g)     only one ballot shall be taken at any sitting of the Assembly, and the Speaker may adjourn the meeting at which a second or subsequent ballot is to be taken for such number of days (in addition to the days on which and to which the meeting is adjourned), not being more than two, as he or she thinks fit;

    (h)     if there is no candidate duly nominated for the first ballot in accordance with paragraph (b) or if after the number of ballots permitted under paragraph (f) have been taken no candidate has been declared elected Parliament shall stand dissolved or, in the case of a Presidential election held in accordance with section 32(6) of this Constitution, the foregoing general election shall be void.

          (6) No business other than the election of a President shall be transacted at a meeting of the National Assembly under subsection (4) of this section or under section 32(6) of this Constitution and such a meeting or any sitting thereof shall not be regarded as a meeting or sitting of the Assembly for the purposes of any other provision of this Constitution.

          (7) At any time when the office of Speaker is vacant or the holder of that office is unable by reason of absence or illness to exercise the functions vested in him or her by this section and section 32(6) of this Constitution, those functions may be exercised by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly or, if there is no Deputy Speaker or the Deputy Speaker is unable by reason of absence or illness to exercise those functions, by such member of the Assembly (not being the President or Vice-President or a Minister or Assistant Minister) as the Assembly may elect for that purpose.

36.     Discharge of functions of President during absence, illness, etc.

          (1) Whenever the President is absent from Botswana or considers it desirable to do so by reason of illness or any other cause he or she may, by directions in writing, authorize-

    (a)     the Vice-President; or

    (b)     during any period when there is no Vice-President or the Vice-President is absent from Botswana or is, by reason of physical or mental infirmity, unable to perform the functions of his or her office, some other Minister,

to discharge such of the functions of the office of President as he or she may specify, and the Vice-President or other Minister may discharge those functions until his or her authority is revoked by the President.

          (2) If the President is incapable by reason of physical or mental infirmity of discharging the functions of his or her office and the infirmity is of such a nature that the President is unable to authorize another person under this section to perform those functions-

    (a)     the Vice-President; or

    (b)     during any period when there is no Vice-President or the Vice-President is absent from Botswana or the Vice-President is, by reason of physical or mental infirmity, unable to perform the functions of his or her office, such Minister as the Cabinet shall appoint,

shall perform the functions of the office of President.

          (3) A person performing the functions of the office of President under this section shall not exercise the power of the President to revoke the appointment of the Vice-President or to dissolve Parliament.

          (4) A person performing the functions of the office of President by virtue of subsection (2) of this section shall cease to perform those functions if he or she is notified by the President that the President is about to resume those functions.

          (5) For the purposes of this section, a certificate of the Chief Justice that-

    (a)     the President is incapable by reason of physical or mental infirmity of discharging the functions of his or her office and the infirmity is of such a nature that the President is unable to authorize another person under this section to perform the functions of his or her office; or

    (b)     the Vice-President is by reason of physical or mental infirmity unable to discharge the functions of his or her office,

shall, in respect of any period for which it is in force, be conclusive and shall not be questioned in any court:

          Provided that any such certificate as is referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection shall cease to have effect if the President notifies any person under subsection (4) of this section that he or she is about to resume the functions of the office of President.

37.     Oath of President

          A person assuming the office of President shall, before entering upon the duties of that office, take and subscribe such oaths as may be prescribed by Parliament.

38.     Returning officer at elections of President

          (1) The Chief Justice shall be the returning officer for the purposes of elections to the office of President.

          (2) Any question which may arise as to whether-

    (a)     any provision of this Constitution or any law relating to the election of a President under section 32 or 35 of this Constitution has been complied with; or

    (b)     any person has been validly elected as President under those sections,

shall be referred to and determined by the returning officer whose decision shall not be questioned in any court.

39.     Vice President

          (1) There shall be a Vice-President who shall be appointed by the President from among the Elected Members of the National Assembly who are citizens of Botswana by birth or descent, which appointment shall be endorsed by the said Elected Members.

          (2) The Vice-President shall continue in office until a person elected at the next election of President under section 32 or 35 of this Constitution assumes office:

          Provided that the office of Vice-President shall become vacant-

     (i)     if the appointment of the holder of the office is revoked by the President; or

     (ii)     if the holder of the office ceases to be a Member of the National Assembly for any other reason than a dissolution of Parliament.

          (3) The Vice-President shall not enter upon the duties of his or her office unless he or she has taken and subscribed the oath of allegiance and such oath for the due execution of his or her office as may be prescribed by Parliament.

          (4) If the Vice-President is absent from Botswana or is incapable by reason of illness or any other cause of discharging the functions of his or her office, the President may appoint a person, from among the Members of the Assembly, to perform the functions of the office of Vice-President and any person so appointed may discharge those functions accordingly:

          Provided that a person appointed under this subsection shall cease to perform the functions of the office of Vice-President-

     (i)     if his or her appointment is revoked by the President;

     (ii)     if he or she ceases to be a Member of the Assembly otherwise than by reason of a dissolution of Parliament;

    (iii)     upon the assumption by any person of the office of President; or

    (iv)     upon the President giving him or her notice that the Vice-President is about to resume his or her functions.

          (5) Where the Vice-President is performing the functions of the office of President in accordance with section 35 or 36 of this Constitution he or she may appoint a person, from among the Members of the Assembly, to perform the functions of the office of Vice-President and any person so appointed may discharge those functions accordingly:

          Provided that a person appointed under this subsection shall cease to perform the functions of the office of Vice-President-

     (i)     if his or her appointment is revoked by the Vice-President;

     (ii)     if he or she ceases to be a Member of the Assembly otherwise than by reason of a dissolution of Parliament; or

    (iii)    if the Vice-President ceases to perform the functions of the office of President.

          (6) In this section references to Members of the Assembly shall, in the event of Parliament being dissolved, be construed as references to those persons who immediately before the dissolution were Members of the Assembly.

40.     Salary and allowances of President

          (1) The President shall receive such salary and allowances as may be prescribed by resolution of the National Assembly, which shall be a charge on the general revenues of the Republic.

          (2) The salary and allowances of the President shall not be altered to his or her disadvantage during his or her period of office.

          (3) A person who has held the office of President shall receive such pension or, upon the expiration of his or her term of office, such gratuity as may be prescribed by resolution of the National Assembly, which shall be a charge on the Consolidated Fund.

41.     Protection of President in respect of legal proceedings

          (1) Whilst any person holds or performs the functions of the office of President no criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against him or her in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by him or her either in his or her official capacity or in his or her private capacity and no civil proceedings shall be instituted or continued in respect of which relief is claimed against him or her in respect of anything done or omitted to be done in his or her private capacity.

          (2) Where provision is made by law limiting the time within which proceedings of any description may be brought against any person, the term of any person in the office of President shall not be taken into account in calculating any period of time prescribed by that law which determines whether any such proceedings as are mentioned in subsection (1) of this section may be brought against that person.