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A senator for life is a member of the senate or equivalent
upper chamber An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restri ...
of a
legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
who has life tenure. , six Italian senators out of 206, two out of the 41 Burundian senators, one Congolese senator out of 109, and all members of the British
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
(apart from the 26 Lords Spiritual who are expected to retire at the age of 70) have lifetime tenure (although Lords can choose to resign or retire or can be expelled in cases of misconduct). Several
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...
n countries once granted lifetime membership to former presidents but have since abolished the practice.


Burundi

In Burundi, former presidents of the Republic serve in the Senate for life. At present there are two of these: Sylvestre Ntibantunganya and Domitien Ndayizeye.


Democratic Republic of the Congo

The 2006 constitution of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
grants lifetime membership in the Senate to former presidents of the Republic. As of 2019, Joseph Kabila is the only senator for life after serving as president from 2001 to 2019. The 1964 Congolese constitution also provided for life membership in the Senate for former presidents.


Italy

In
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, a ''senatore a vita'' is a member of the Italian Senate appointed by the president of the Italian Republic "for outstanding patriotic merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field". There may be up to five appointed senators for life at the same time. Former presidents of the Republic are '' ex officio'' senators for life. Currently there are six senators for life (one former president and five appointed).


Paraguay

Former presidents of the Republic, except for those who were impeached from office, are granted the speaking-but-non-voting position of
senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
for life.


Russia

The lifetime senatorship appeared in the Constitution of Russia as a result of the constitutional reform in 2020. According to the new version of the Constitution, the
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
has the right to appoint 30 senators for services to the country in the sphere of state and public activity, 7 of whom can be appointed for life. In addition, former presidents (except for those who were impeached from office) become senators for life, but have the right to refuse this office. This was widely seen as a preparation for a future power transition.


Rwanda

The Rwandan Constitution permits former presidents of the country to become members of the Senate if they wish, by submitting a request to the Supreme Court.


Former systems


Canada

In a manner reminiscent of the British House of Lords, members of the
Canadian Senate The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the Br ...
were appointed for life. Since the Constitution Act, 1965, however, senators must retire upon reaching the age of 75. Though senators appointed before the amendment were grandfathered in by the legislation, there are no longer any lifetime senators present in the Canadian Senate.
Orville Howard Phillips Orville Howard Phillips (April 5, 1924 – April 24, 2009) was a Canadian dental surgeon, politician, and senator. Early life Born in O'Leary, Prince Edward Island, the son of J. S. and Maude Phillips, he received his D.D.S. from Dalhousie Univ ...
, the last senator for life, resigned his seat in 1999.


France

In
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, during the Third Republic, the Senate was composed of 300 members, 75 of which were ''inamovible'' ("unremovable"). Introduced in 1875, the status was abolished for new senators in 1884, but maintained for those already in office.
Émile Deshayes de Marcère Émile-Louis-Gustave Deshayes de Marcère (16 March 1828 – 26 April 1918) was a French politician. Marcère was a deputy in the National Assembly from 1871 to 1884. In 1876 and 1878, he was Minister of the Interior, continuing in post for a fe ...
, the last surviving ''sénateur inamovible'', died in 1918. Overall there had been 116 lifetime senators. In 2005, there was questioning about the status of former presidents of the Republic. According to the constitution of the Fifth Republic, former presidents are ''de jure'' members of the Constitutional Council, which poses a problem of possible partiality. Some members of
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
and commentators suggested that it should be replaced by a life membership in the Senate. This proposal was, however, not enacted.


Romania

The 1923 Constitution instituted the membership by right (''senator de drept'') in the Senate for: * the heir-apparent or heir-presumptive to the
throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the mon ...
*
Metropolitan bishop In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis. Originally, the term referred to the ...
s and diocesan bishops of the Orthodox and Greek-Catholic churches * heads of state-recognised religious bodies * the president of the Romanian Academy * former presidents of the Council of Ministers * former ministers with at least six years’ seniority * former presidents of either legislative chamber who held this function for at least eight ordinary sessions * former senators and deputies elected to at least ten legislatures, irrespective of their duration * former presidents of the High Court of Cassation and Justice * reserve and retired generals * former presidents of the National Assemblies at Chişinău, Cernăuţi and Alba Iulia, which proclaimed their respective provinces’ union with Romania in 1918 (''see Union of Bessarabia with Romania, Union of Bukovina with Romania and Union of Transylvania with Romania'') The membership by right was maintained under the 1938 Constitution and it was abolished together with the Senate on July 15, 1946, by the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...
-dominated government of Petru Groza. Although the current constitution of Romania re-established the bicameral
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
in 1991, it did not reinstate the office of senator by right.


South and Central America

The
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...
s of a number of countries in
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...
have granted former presidents the right to be senator for life (''senador vitalicio''), possibly recalling the entirely unelected Senate of Simón Bolívar's theory (see Bolivar's tricameralism). Most of these countries have since excised these provisions as they are increasingly seen as antidemocratic. The Constitution of Paraguay still has such a provision. Former presidents are permitted to speak but not vote. * In
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, lifetime Senate seats existed from 1961 to 1999. The former presidents who held this position were: Rómulo Betancourt (1964–1981), Raúl Leoni (1969–1972), Rafael Caldera (1974–1994, 1999), Carlos Andrés Pérez (1979–1989, 1994–1996), Luis Herrera Campins (1984–1999) and Jaime Lusinchi (1989–1999). The
Venezuelan Senate The Senate of Venezuela was the upper house of Venezuela's legislature under its 1961 constitution. Under the 1999 constitution, the bicameral system was replaced by the unicameral National Assembly of Venezuela. However, since 1999 the former cham ...
was abolished with the 1999 constitution. * In
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
, the practice was extant from 1979 to 1993. Francisco Morales Bermúdez, Fernando Belaúnde Terry and
Alan García Pérez Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *Al ...
were the only lifetime senators until the abolition of the senate in 1993 and the introduction of a unicameral parliament. * In
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
, under the 1980 Constitution, two ex- presidents have become senators-for-life:
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
(1998–2002) and Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (2000–2006). Pinochet's parliamentary immunity protected him from prosecution for
human rights violations Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
until the Chilean Supreme Court revoked it in 2000. The provision was abolished by constitutional reforms in 2005. * In
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...
, the 1974 Constitution granted lifetime membership in that country's Senate to former presidents of the Republic.


Brazil

The senators of the
Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and (until 1828) Uruguay. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom ...
(1826–1889) were appointed for life by the
Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...
from a list of three, indirectly elected, candidates for each constituency. For details, see Senate of Brazil: History. There were about 250 senators of the Empire of Brazil. For the list of senators, see :pt:Lista de senadores do Brasil


Somalia

While the 1960 constitution of the Somali Republic (1960–1969) did not provide for a senate (the legislature, known as the National Assembly, was unicameral), it did grant lifetime membership in the legislature to ex- presidents of the Republic.
Aden Adde Aden Abdulle Osman Daar ( so, Aadan Cabdulle Cismaan Dacar, ar, آدم عبد الله عثمان دعر) (December 9, 1908 – June 8, 2007), popularly known as Aden Adde, was a Somali politician who served as the first president of the S ...
was the only person eligible to hold this position.


United States

During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, New York delegate Alexander Hamilton proposed that all members of the U.S. Senate, which was at time appointed by state legislatures and intended to check the power of the popularly elected House of Representatives, be appointed for life as a safeguard against "amazing violence and turbulence of the democratic spirit." His views did not prevail, and the final U.S. Constitution specified six-year terms for senators. Larry J. Sabato, a political scientist at the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
, proposed establishing lifetime Senate appointments for former presidents and former vice presidents as part of a broad set of political proposals in his 2007 book, '' A More Perfect Constitution''.


See also

* Lords Spiritual *
Lords Temporal The Lords Temporal are secular members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament. These can be either life peers or hereditary peers, although the hereditary right to sit in the House of Lords was abolished for all but ...
* Term limits * List of senators for life in Italy


Notes


External links


Senato.it: Senatori a vita
{{in lang, it — Italian lifetime senators (XVII legislation – June 2017) Senators for life