The Venice Commission has previously expressed very strong criticism of the creation of a position of non-elected Vice-presidents exercising executive power in substitution for the President. “Nothing in the presidential system guarantees that the country´s voters or political leaders would have selected the Vice-President to wield the powers they were willing to give to the /…/ president.” The Commission has said that “If Vice-Presidents are going to govern, they should have an electoral mandate and not take office by appointment of the President. In addition, since Vice-Presidents may temporarily exercise the powers of the President pending new presidential elections, they will be in a privileged position to win these elections. The possibility for the President to designate a Vice-President therefore gives to the incumbent President a lot of influence on the choice of his or her successor. New Article 103-1 is therefore incompatible with democratic standards.”