Denmark – Constitution

 

{ Adopted on: 5 June 1953 }

{ ICL Document Status: 1992 }

 

 

Section 9 [Vacancy of the Throne]

Provisions relating to the exercising of sovereign power in the event of the minority, illness, or absence of the King shall be laid down by Statute. Where on the vacancy of the Throne there is no Successor to the Throne, the Parliament shall elect a King and establish the future order of succession to the Throne.

 

Part IV [The Parliament]

 

Section 28 [Membership]

The Parliament shall consist of one assembly of not more than one hundred and seventy-nine Members of whom two Members shall be elected on the Faeroe Islands and two Members in Greenland.

 

Section 29 [Right to Vote]

(1) Any Danish subject whose permanent residence is in the Realm, and who has the age qualification for suffrage provided for in Subsection (2) shall have the right to vote at Parliament elections, provided that he has not been declared incapable of conducting his own affairs. It shall be laid down by Statute to what extent conviction and public assistance amounting to poor relief within the meaning of the law shall entail disfranchisement.

(2) The age qualification for suffrage shall be such as has resulted from the Referendum held under the Act dated the 25th March, 1953. Such age qualification for suffrage may be altered at any time by Statute. A Bill passed by the Parliament for the purpose of such enactment shall receive the Royal Assent only when the provision on the alteration in the age qualification for suffrage has been put to a Referendum in accordance with Section 42 (5), which was not resulted in the rejection of the provision.

 

Section 30 [Eligibility for Membership]

(1) Any person who has a right to vote at Parliament elections shall be eligible for membership of the Parliament, unless he has been convicted of an act which in the eyes of the public makes him unworthy of being a Member of the Parliament.

(2) Civil servants who are elected Members of the Parliament shall not require permission from the Government to accept their election.

 

 

Section 31 [Elections]

(1)   The Members of the Parliament shall be elected by general and direct ballot.

(2) Rules for the exercise of the suffrage shall be laid down by the Elections Act, which, to secure equal representation of the various opinions of the Electorate, shall prescribe the manner of election and decide whether proportional representation shall be adopted with or without elections in single-member constituencies.

(3) In determining the number of seats to be allotted to each area regard shall be paid to the number of inhabitants, the number of electors, and the density of population.

(4) The Elections Act shall provide rules governing the election of substitutes and their admission to the Parliament, and also rules for the procedure to be adopted where a new election is required.

(5) Special rules for the representation of Greenland in the Parliament may be laid down by Statute.

 

Section 32 [Period]

(1) The members of the Parliament shall be elected for a period of four years.

(2) The King may at any time issue writs for a new election with the effect that the existing seats be vacated upon a new election. Provided that writs for an election shall not be issued after the appointment of a new Ministry until the Prime Minister has presented himself to the Parliament.

(3) The Prime Minister shall cause a general election to be held before the expiration of the period for which the Parliament has been elected.

(4) No seats shall be vacated until a new election has been held.

(5) Special rules may be provided by Statute for the commencement and determination of Faeroe Islands and Greenland representation in the Parliament.

(6) If a Member of the Parliament becomes ineligible his seating the Parliament shall become vacant.

(7) On approval of his election each new Member shall make a solemn declaration that he will adhere to the Constitution Act.

 

Section 33 [Validity of Election]

The Parliament itself shall determine the validity of the election of any Member and decide whether a Member has lost his eligibility or not.

 

Section 42 [Referendum]

(1) Where a Bill has been passed by the Parliament, one-third of the Members of the Parliament may within three week-days from the final passing of the Bill request of the President that the Bill be subjected to a Referendum. Such request shall be made in writing and signed by the Members making the request.

(2) Except in the instance mentioned in Subsection (7), no Bill which may be subjected to a Referendum, confer Subsection (6), shall receive the Royal Assent before the expiration of the time limit mentioned in Subsection (1), or before a Referendum requested as aforesaid has take place.

(3) Where a Referendum on a Bill has been requested the Parliament may within a period of five week-days from the final passing of the Bill resolve that the Bill shall be withdrawn.

(4) Where the Parliament has made no resolution in accordance with Subsection (3), notice to the effect that the Bill will be put to a Referendum shall without delay be given to the Prime Minister, who shall then cause the Bill to be published together with a statement that a Referendum will be held. The Referendum shall be held in accordance with the decision of the Prime Minister not less than twelve and not more than eighteen week-days after the publication of the Bill.

(5) At the Referendum votes shall be cast for or against the Bill. For the Bill to be rejected a majority of the electors taking part in the voting, however, not less than thirty per cent of all persons entitled to vote, shall have voted against the Bill.

(6) Finance Bills, Supplementary Appropriation Bills, Provisional Appropriation Bills, Government Loan Bills, Civil Servants (Amendment) Bills, Salaries and Pensions Bills, Naturalization Bills, Expropriation Bills, Taxation (Direct and Indirect) Bills, as well as Bills introduced for the purpose of discharging existing treaty obligations shall not be subject to a decision by Referendum. This provision shall also apply to the Bills referred to in Sections 8, 9, 10, and 11, and to such resolutions as are provided for in Section 19, if existing in the form of a law, unless it has been provided by a special Act that such resolutions shall be put to a Referendum. Amendments of the Constitution Act shall be governed by the rules laid down in Section 88.

(7) In an emergency a Bill that may be subjected to a Referendum may receive the Royal Assent immediately after it has been passed, provided that the Bill contains a provision to

that effect. Where under the rules of Subsection (1) one-third of the Members of the Parliament request a Referendum on the Bill or on the Act to which the Royal Assent has been given, such Referendum shall be held in accordance with the above rules. Where the act is rejected by the Referendum, an announcement to that effect shall be made by the Prime Minister without undue delay and not later than fourteen days after the Referendum was held. From the date of such announcement the Act shall become ineffective.
(8) Rules for Referenda, including the extent to which Referenda shall be held on the Faeroe Islands and in Greenland, shall be laid down by Statute.

 

Section 88 [Constitutional Amendments, Electors' Vote]

When the Parliament passes a Bill for the purposes of a new constitutional provision, and the Government wishes to proceed with the matter, writs shall be issued for the election of Members of a new Parliament. If the Bill is passed unamended by the Parliament assembling after the election, the Bill shall within six months after its final passing be submitted to the Electors for approval or rejection by direct voting. Rules for this voting shall be laid down by Statute. If a majority of the persons taking part in the voting, and at least 40 per cent of the Electorate has voted in favor of the Bill as passed by the Parliament, and if the Bill receives the Royal Assent it shall form an integral part of the Constitution Act.