Venice Commission - Report on Bicameralism
www.venice.coe.int
Disclaimer: this information was gathered by the Secretariat of the Venice Commission on the basis of contributions by the members of the Venice Commission, and complemented with information available from various open sources (academic articles, legal blogs, official information web-sites etc.).
Every effort was made to provide accurate and up-to-date information. For further details please visit our site : https://www.venice.coe.int/
6.How are members of the second chamber selected? Please describe: a) direct/indirect/mixed suffrage (if the suffrage is indirect or mixed, who elects or appoints the second chamber? b) territorial or other criteria; i) region/provinces/municipalities/others; ii) professional categories/ethnic/age/other; c) candidates’ independence from/affiliation with political parties; d) in case of indirect election, is there an imperative mandate or a similar practice?
The Council of the Nation is composed of 174 seats, half of which are renewed every three years for six-year terms. Of this total, two-thirds are filled by the first-past-the-post indirect vote by an electoral college composed of members of the wilaya popular assemblies and the communal popular assemblies in 58 electoral districts based on the boundaries of the wilayas, which means 116 seats at the rate of two per wilaya.
Indirect suffrage: According to Art. 35 para. 1 B-VG the members of the Federal Council and their substitutes are elected by the Provincial Parliament for the duration of their respective legislative periods in accordance with the principle of proportional representation. But at least one seat must fall to the party having the second largest number of seats in a Provincial Parliament or, should several parties have the same number of seats, the second highest number of votes at the last election to the Provincial Parliament. When the claims of several parties are equal, the issue shall be decided by lot.
Sénateurs issus des entités fédérées: il s'agit de 29 sénateurs désignés par le Parlement flamand, de 10 sénateurs désignés par le Parlement de la Communauté française, de 8 sénateurs désignés par le Parlement wallon, de 2 sénateurs désignés par le groupe linguistique français du Parlement bruxellois et d'un sénateur délégué par le Parlement de la Communauté germanophone. La répartition des sièges se fait selon un système de réprésentation proportionnelle, sur la base du résultat des élections du parlement concerné.
Delegates to the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina are elected indirectly. Nominated Croat and Bosniac delegates from the Federation are elected by Croat and Bosniac delegates in the House of Peoples of the Federation. Delegates from the Republika Srpska are elected by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. Delegates are elected on an ethnic basis.
Seats are to be attributed by first-past-the-post voting in twenty-seven constituencies of one or two seats each, corresponding to the 26 states plus the Federal District of the capital Brasilia. Candidates must be members of an official political party, enjoy full civil rights, reside in the constituency in which they are running, and be Brazilian citizens. For a senator to be eligible for the presidency of the Senate, Brazilian citizenship by birth is required.
In accordance with section 24 of the Constitution Act, 1867, it is the Governor General, acting in the King’s name, who shall, by a formal written instrument, “summon” (appoint) “qualified Persons” to the Senate; and “every Person so summoned shall become and be a Member of the Senate and a Senator”. In practice, and by constitutional convention, it is the Prime Minister who advises the Governor General as to whom to “summon” and appoint to the Senate.
Multi-mandate proportional representation in 15 constituencies of two to five senators, corresponding to the regions of Chile. Seats are allocated on the basis of votes counted using the D'Hondt method, with no electoral threshold. Candidates must: be a Chilean citizen with the right to vote ; have completed secondary education; be at least 35 years old; not be a member of parliament.
Senators are elected by a direct vote in single-seat constituencies through the two-round plurality voting system. If no candidate receives a majority of votes in the first round, there is a second round (in a week) between the two highest-placed candidates. On contrary, the deputies are elected in an open party-list proportional representation system. Different voting methods together with lower turnout in Senate elections make the composition of the two chambers distinctive. There are no territorial or similar criteria for the election of the Senators. However, the Czechia has 81 senate districts (constituencies), where every other year elections take place in one-third of the districts (Art. 16 para 2 of the Constitution). The law made clear, for the first elections in 1996, which districts were assigned for senators elected for 6 years, 4 years and 2 years. Any citizen of the Czechia who has the right to vote and has attained the age of forty is eligible for election to the Senate (Art. 19 para 2 of the Constitution). Candidates could be (and commonly are) affiliated with political parties. Political parties, movements or their coalitions are entitled to register a candidate. A candidate may also present their registration applications individually (an independent candidate). However, such a candidate must submit a petition signed by at least 1,000 qualified voters from the election district (constituency) in which such an independent candidate stands and make a deposit of 20.000 CZK (See articles 60 and 61 of the Act of Law 247/1995 Coll., on elections to the Parliament of the Czechia).
The members of the second chamber are elected for 6-year terms in each departmental constituency by indirect universal suffrage: the electoral college is composed of elected representatives (to local assemblies and to Parliament). Depending on the size of the departments, the election is carried out by the proportional list system (when at least 3 senators are elected) or by the first-past-the-post system with two rounds (departments where 2 or fewer senators are elected). Candidatures are free. Sponsorship or support from a political party is not necessary. In practice, many senators are affiliated to a political party, but the links between parties and members of the second chamber are more distant than in the lower chamber. As in the lower house, there is no imperative mandate.
A member of the Bundesrat has to be a member of the government of the respective Land (Article 51 subsection 1 Basic Law). Who is considered to be a member of the Land government, depends on the law of the respective Land. The head and ministers of the government of a Land, as well as the mayor and the senators of the city states (Bremen, Hamburg, and Berlin) count as members of government. In some Länder (Bavaria, Saxony, and Baden-Wuerttemberg) state secretaries and councils of states also qualify as members of government. There are no “general elections to the Bundesrat” and no electoral terms. Instead, the Bundesrat is a permanent body whose membership changes as a consequence of the elections at the level of the Land. Since voters determine the composition of the parliaments in their Land (and, as a consequence, the composition of the governments), they indirectly determine who will have a seat in the Bundesrat. Membership of the Bundesrat is based on a decision by the government of the Land in question. The membership ends automatically when a member is no longer in the government of the Land or when the government decides to recall the member. There are no other requirements for the election of the members of the Bundesrat.
Members of Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Irish parliament, are selected through a combination of appointed and elected processes.
6. The members of the Senate are elected by the people with the same electoral system of the Chamber of deputies (except for minor differences). Regions are the territorial unity for election of senators.
The Senate is formed by deputies representing, in the manner prescribed by the constitutional law, two people from each region, city of republican significance and the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Ten deputies of the Senate are appointed by the President of the Republic, five of which - at the suggestion of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan (clause 2, article 50 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
a) According to article 56 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, Senators are elected by direct suffrage:
Les membres de la deuxième chambre appelée Chambre des conseillers, sont élus au niveau de chaque région, au suffrage universel indirect par des collèges électoraux, 3/5 représentant les collectivités territoriales et 2/5 les chambres professionnelles et les organisations professionnelles des employeurs les plus représentatives et les représentants des salariés
a) Indirect suffrage, election by the Provinces (Article 55 of the Constitution)
Members from both chambers are elected by a universal ballot (in general election in a direct vote by secret ballot) for a term of four years. The Sejm is elected under proportional representation according to the d'Hondt method for vote-seat conversion. The Senate is elected under the first-past-the-post electoral system, with one senator being returned from each of the one hundred constituencies. It is not possible to run for the Sejm and the Senate at the same time. It is not possible to be an MP and a senator at the same time.
The Senate is elected by direct suffrage, on a territorial basis; the electoral circumscriptions are represented by the counties (județe), the territorial - administrative units in which Romania is divided; the political parties and the organizations of citizens belonging to national minorities are entitled to file lists of candidates with the electoral bureaus of the circumscriptions; individual candidatures may also be filed (see article 52 of Law no 208/2015)
The National Council is, in accordance with the Constitution, the representative of social, economic, professional and local interest groups. Forty members of the National Council comprise 22 representatives of local interests, six representatives of non-commercial activities, four representatives of employers and four of employees and four representatives of farmers, crafts and trades and independent professions.
a) direct/indirect/mixed suffrage (if the suffrage is indirect or mixed, who elects or appoints the second chamber?)
a. direct/indirect/mixed suffrage (if the suffrage is indirect or mixed, who elects or appoints the second chamber?)
As per Article 81 of the Constitution, the National Council of Regions and Districts (the second chamber) is made up of elected deputies from the regions and districts. The members of each regional council elect three members from among themselves to represent their regions within the National Council of Regions and Districts. The elected members of the regional councils of each district elect from among themselves a deputy to represent the district within the National Council of Regions and Districts.
Members of the UK’s second chamber – the House of Lords - fall into a number of different categories. They may be appointed by the independent House of Lords Appointments Commission. They are in most cases nominated by consecutive Prime Ministers or they may be one of 26 Bishops authorised automatically to sit in the House of Lords. There is no direct election for any of these routes.
Each of the 50 states has 2 Senators that represent them in Congress (i.e., 100 Senators total), regardless of the state’s population or size. The 17th Amendment to the Constitution requires Senators to be elected by a direct vote of state residents. In addition, it allows the governor or executive authority of each state, if permitted by that state’s legislature, to appoint a senator if a seat becomes vacant, until a general election is held. The only “territorial” restriction for Senatorial candidates is that they must be inhabitants of the states they seek to represent at the time of their election.
Algeria
Austria
After expiry of the legislative period of a Provincial Parliament or after its dissolution the members delegated by it to the Federal Council remain in office until such time as the new Provincial Parliament has held the election to the Federal Council (Art. 35 para. 3 B-VG).
Art. 34 B-VG: The provinces are represented in the Federal Council in proportion to the number of nationals in each province. The province with the largest number of citizens delegates twelve members, every other province as many as the ratio in which its nationals stand to those in the first-mentioned province, with remainders which exceed half the coefficient counting as full. Every province is however entitled to a representation of at least three members. A substitute will be appointed for each member. The number of members to be delegated by each province accordingly will be laid down after every general census by the Federal President.
Concerning members of the Federal Council there are no specific provisions regarding professions, ethnic, age or other similar categories.
Since the members of the Federal Council are delegated by the provincial parliaments, they are usually members of political parties. Art. 35 para. 2 B-VG states that they do not need to belong to the provincial parliament which delegates them.
No, there´s no imperative mandate or any similar practice. Art. 56 para. 1 B-VG states that the members of the National Council and the members of the Federal Council are bound in the exercise of their function by no mandate.
Belgium
Les 10 sénateurs cooptés (4 francophones et 6 néerlandophones) sont désignés par les sénateurs francophones/néerlandophones issus des entités fédérées. La répartition des sièges se fait selon un système de réprésentation proportionnelle, sur la base du résultat des élections de la Chambre des Représentants.
(Voir article 67 de la Constitution)
a) suffrage indirecte (voir supra)
b) critères territoriaux ou autres: entités fédérées (communautés et régions) + l’état fédéral (cooptation sur base d’une réprésentation proportionnele sur la base des élection de la Chambre
c) l'indépendance des candidats par rapport aux partis politiques et leur affiliation à ceux-ci ; indépendance en droit, dépendance de fait dans un système qui est souvent qualifié de particratie
d) il n’y a pas de mandat impératif.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Canada
In terms of territorial criteria, the provinces and territories are represented in the Senate as follows: 24 Senators for the province of Ontario; 24 Senators for the province of Quebec; 24 Senators for the Maritime provinces (that is, 10 Senators for Nova Scotia, 10 for New Brunswick, and 4 for Prince Edward Island); 24 Senators for the Western provinces (6 Senators for Manitoba, 6 for British Columbia, 6 for Saskatchewan, 6 for Alberta); 6 Senators for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador; and 1 Senator each for the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut (see section 22 of the Constitution Act, 1867).
As mentioned earlier, the Western provinces, particularly British Columbia and Alberta, which have become more populous over recent years, have sought, from time to time, to propose increased representation, or more equitable representation in terms of numbers in the Senate, but that would require a constitutional amendment pursuant to the general procedure set out in section 38 and 42 of the Constitution Act, 1982, requiring the concurrence of the Senate (suspensive veto only), the House of Commons, and the legislative assemblies of at least two-thirds of the provinces having, in the aggregate, at least 50 per cent of the population of the provinces (the 7/50 rule).
There are no other constitutionally-mandated criteria other than that the persons appointed must be at least 30 years of age, be Canadian citizens, hold real property valued at least $4,000 dollars, hold real and personal property worth $4,000 over debts and liabilities, must be resident in the province for which they are appointed, and in the case of Quebec, hold the real property in specific electoral divisions (pre-dating Confederation) or be resident in that division. (See section 23 of the Constitution Act, 1867.)
In the early years of the Senate, lawyers and other professional elites tended to be appointed. Over time, an enlightened appointments policy saw much more diversity, including an increase in women, members from Indigenous peoples, linguistic and other minorities. (In the celebrated Edwards case, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council decided that women were “qualified Persons” within the meaning of the provisions of the British North America Act, 1867, and thus eligible for appointment to the Senate.)
In terms of political affiliation and independence, from its inception, the Senate tended to be made up of members who were, at least notionally and in many cases more partisanly, adherents of the one or the other of the two major political parties. This did not sit easily with the Senate’s independent role, but it did make for a certain degree of efficiency in the legislative process, at least when the majority party in the lower house formed the government and also had a majority in the Senate.
When the current administration was first elected in 2015, the Prime Minister put into place a new policy, setting up an Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, with new, non-partisan criteria for a short list of candidates whose names would be proposed to the Prime Minister.
Amongst the merit-based criteria established by the Government, it is stated:
“Individuals must demonstrate to the Advisory Board that they have the ability to bring a perspective and contribution to the work of the Senate that is independent and non-partisan. They will also have to disclose any political involvement and activities. Past political activities would not disqualify an applicant.”
Chile
Czechia
Nevertheless, the political affiliation of members of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate does not preclude them from their duty to carry out their duties in the interest of all the people, to their best knowledge and conscience (Art. 23 para 3 of the Constitution). Therefore, they shall be bound not by the political directives but by the „constitutional promise“ according to the above provision. Art. 26 of the Constitution states explicitly that „Deputies and Senators shall perform their duties personally in accordance with their oath of office; in addition, they shall not be bound by anyone’s instructions.“ Members of both chambres of the Czech parliament are elected in a direct vote. There is no imperative mandate or similar practice in the Czech constitutional system. They cannot be impeached or removed from office. A criminal prosecution of deputies and senators is possible only if the chamber consents to it. And a criminal conviction does not result in the loss of a parliamentary or senatorial seat, even if an imprisonment is imposed.
France
Germany
Ireland
There are 60 members of the Seanad, with 43 elected by various panels and 6 elected by graduates of certain universities. The remaining 11 members are appointed by the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland.
The 43 elected members of the Seanad elected from five special panels of nominees (known as vocational panels) are chosen by an electorate consisting of TDs (members of Dáil Éireann), outgoing senators and members of city and county councils. Nomination is restrictive for the panel seats with only Oireachtas members and designated nominating bodies entitled to nominate. Each of the five panels consists, in theory, of individuals possessing special knowledge of, or experience in, one of five specific fields. In practice the nominees are party members, often, though not always, failed or aspiring Dáil candidates. At present the panel-elected members of the Seanad are divided as follows:
o Seven seats on the Administrative Panel: Public administration and social services (including the voluntary sector).
o Eleven seats on the Agricultural Panel: Agriculture and the fisheries.
o Five seats on the Cultural and Educational Panel: Education, the arts, the Irish language and Irish culture and literature.
o Nine seats on the Industrial and Commercial Panel: Industry and commerce (including engineering and architecture).
o Eleven seats on the Labour Panel: Labour (organised or otherwise).
Candidates must be nominated by a certain number of individuals or organizations within their panel's electorate in order to appear on the ballot. The voting is conducted by secret postal ballot under a proportional representation system.
The six university seats have traditionally been elected by graduates of a small number of universities listed in the Constitution. This is however due to change following the recent Irish Supreme Court case of Heneghan -v- Minister for Housing, Planning & Local Government & ors [2023] IESC 7, in which the Supreme Court found that a 1979 Constitutional amendment mandated the Oireachtas to legislate to also include the electorates of other insitutions of higher education. Finally, the Taoiseach appoints 11 members of the Seanad, with the goal of ensuring that there is a diverse range of expertise and viewpoints represented in the house. These appointments are made after a general election and can include individuals who were not elected to the Dáil or the Seanad.
Italy
Kazakhstan
Election of deputies of the Senate is carried out on the basis of indirect suffrage by secret ballot. Half of the elected members of the Senate are re-elected every three years. At the same time, their regular elections are held no later than two months before the end of their term of office (clause 2, article 51 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
Mexico
a) 64 are elected by the principle of majority, 2 for each State, to the political party that gained more votes;
b) 32 are elected by the principle of largest minority of each State, to the political party that was runner up in the election;
c) 32 are elected by proportional representation, through the system of lists voted in one sole national multimember district.
b) As stated in the previous question, the election of Mexican Senators follows a territorial criterion, where 96 are elected in a proportion of 3 per State and the other 32 are elected by proportional representation in a sole national multimember district list.
c) The election of Mexican Senators, as the other popular election positions, can be done through political parties or as independent candidate, according to article 35.II of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States.
d) No imperative mandate
Morocco
b) critères territoriaux ou autres
i) région/provinces/municipalités/autres : 72 membres représentent les collectivités territoriales (régions, communes, préfectures et provinces)
ii) catégories professionnelles/ethniques/age/autres : 48 membres représentent les forces économiques : les chambres professionnelles(20), les organisations professionnelles des employeurs(8), les salariés (20)
c) l'indépendance des candidats par rapport aux partis politiques et leur affiliation à ceux-ci : les membres de la deuxième chambre sont tous affiliés politiquement
d) en cas d'élection indirecte, existe-t-il un mandat impératif ou une pratique similaire ?non, l’article 60 de la constitution en vigueur est clair : « Le Parlement est composé de deux Chambres, la Chambre des Représentants et la Chambre des Conseillers. Leurs membres tiennent leur mandat de la Nation. Leur droit de vote est personnel et ne peut être délégué. »
The Netherlands
b) territorial
i) Provinces
ii) pr NO
c) Members of the Senate generally are members of political parties that are also represented in the House of Representatives
d) NO imperative mandate
Poland
Romania
Slovenia
Even though elections to the National Council are a constitutional category and should be regulated in the Constitution, elections to the Slovenian National Council are regulated in the National Council Act. Different interest groups exist in the National Council and each is elected in a specific way. As Article 96 of the Constitution dictates, the National Council houses 4 employer representatives, elected based on law by electorate (electorates), composed of elected Chamber of Commerce representatives and employer associations that are organized in the country. Every Chamber of Commerce and employer organization elects one member of the electorate per every 10 000 employees of their members.
The Constitution dictates that an employee interest group has 4 representatives in the National Council, the same as employers. They are elected by the electorate which was formed by representative unions which elected them. Unions are by the legislator considered to be representative based on the structure of their membership. Representative Unions are essentially representatives of employees in different fields of labor.
The National Council houses 4 representatives of farmers, craftsmen and professional occupations. 4 representatives are voted by 3 categories of subjects, from which farmers get 2 representatives. The representatives are elected by professional farmer organizations such as chambers, associations, societies and unions.
Article 96 of the Constitution regulates that there are also 6 members of non-commercial activities in the National Council, but does not specify who these representatives are, leaving the regulation to the National Council Act. The Act stipulates which non-commercial activities are represented with the 6 representatives: representative of universities, higher schools, colleges, upbringing and education representative, science representative, representative of culture and sports, health representative and a social security representative.
The National Council Act predicts a certain number of electors and National Council candidates. In local interest representative’s election, each local community can elect one candidate and an additional proportionate number of electors based on the number of inhabitants of the community. Each local community can elect at least one representative in the electorate no matter the number of inhabitants, and one extra for every 5 000 inhabitants.
However, the problem of determining the number of electors does occur in the election of functional interest representatives. Each interest organization that has the right to propose electors and candidates for the National Council, can propose an unlimited number of candidates, as well as an additional elector and extra electors if the membership in the organization is higher than criteria set in the legislation. Every Chamber of Commerce, employer associations and union can elect an extra elector for every 10 000 members, every professional farmer organization an extra elector for every 1000 members, each professional organization of craftsmen for every 500 members, each professional organization of independent professions, pedagogical staff, scientists, cultural and sport staff, healthcare staff and social security professionals can elect one extra elector for every 100 members. The only exception is the election of university, higher school and college representative; these institutions do not elect extra electors, instead, each has one representative in the electorate regardless of the number of students or professors.
c) candidates’ independence from/affiliation with political parties
Many associations and civil society organizations that are independent of politics are involved in National Councils elections. Based on the number of their members they can propose electors and candidates, and can in this way ensure a representative in the National Council. Because political parties cannot directly influence National Councils elections, they also cannot influence their actions during their mandate which importantly reflects on the activity of the National Council itself. The National Council sessions are compared to National Assembly sessions less politicized and the debates are more substantive, which greatly influences the quality of the parliament’s activity in Slovenia.
See also answer no. 10.
d) in case of indirect election, is there an imperative mandate or a similar practice?
There is a question about the nature of the mandate of the members of the National Council. The Constitution determines that a member of the National Assembly is a representative of the people and is not bound by any instructions, whereas the same cannot be said for a member of the National Council. On that ground, it could not be unreasonable if permanent relations are formed institutionally, which would establish member of the National Council activity guideline, some other element of imperativism of their mandate, and possibly even a recall of the member of the National Council, since it would not negate the idea of local interests’ representation. The constitutional theory opinion is that the mandate of member of the National Council is mostly imperative because their main purpose is to represent their interest groups.
There are no provisions that would bind member of the National Council to work under instructions or to even represent a certain interest in decision-making. However, they have to inform interest organizations and local communities they represent about their progress and file initiatives and proposals on their appeal. These obligations indicate an imperative nature of the National Council's member mandate. Nevertheless, the mandate is not fully imperative; if it were, the councilor would always have to vote in accordance with the instructions of his interest base.
Furthermore, the National Council cannot be dissolved based on interest representation of its voting base. The member of the National Council dissolving reasons are stated in Article 63 of the National Council Act and are the same as for a National Assembly member stated in the Deputies Act. The legislator did not determine the duty of the member of the National Council to follow represented interests as a reason for dismissal when the dissolving institute was regulated. Consequently, the mandate of the member of the National Council is in fact much closer to a representative than imperative.
Spain
Mixed. The majority of senators (208) are directly elected by citizens on the basis of provincial constituencies (see below). The rest (57) are indirectly elected by the autonomous parliaments (1 each regional parliament and one more for each million inhabitants of the autonomous community) which must ensure a proportional representation of the political parties within the (regional) parliament.
The electoral system for directly elected senators is quite different from the one governing the election of the lower house (which is based on a proportional system in provincial constituencies but adapted to the population of each province and with blocked and closed party lists of candidates). The singularities of the electoral system can be summarised in the following features:
(i) The number of candidates (4) per province is fixed, irrespective of the population or size of the province.
(ii) The electoral formula is majoritarian but limited: each voter can vote for 3 candidates (one less than the number of senators to be elected)
(iii) The lists of candidates are completely open, but are presented in the ballot papers grouped by parties: the voter can thus identify which party the candidates belong to, although he or she is free to choose candidates from different parties.
(iv) In practice, elections are party-based. Parties only present 3 candidates (to concentrate the vote in them) and citizens vote along party lines so they vote for the three candidates not including candidates coming from other lists. The results always mirror that: the winning party in each constituency gets 3 senators and the second party gets 1 senator. Minority parties do not obtain any representation in the Senate except for those parties with a strong presence in some territories (i.e. nationalist parties in the Provinces that make up their Autonomous Communities)
b) territorial or other criteria
i) region/provinces/municipalities/others
Senators are elected in two different ways with different constituencies:
Directed elected senators: The basic constituency is the province bur with some specialities
4 senators each province (except for the provinces in the Canary and Balear Islands)
3 senators each major Islands (Mallorca, Tenerife and Gran Canaria)
2 senators each Autonomous Cities (Ceuta and Melilla)
1 senator each minor Island (Ibiza-Formentera; Menorca; Gomera, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Hierro and La Palma)
Indirectly elected Senators: the constituency is the Autonomous Community and they are elected by the autonomous parliaments: 1 for each regional parliament and one more for each million inhabitants of the autonomous community.
ii) professional categories/ethnic/age/other
There are no specific rules governing the selection of senators.
c) candidates’ independence from/affiliation with political parties
All senators are members of political parties. There have been extremely rare cases of senators elected without being on party lists of candidates. However, in Senate elections it is common for political parties to reach a pre-election agreement to propose common lists, due to the majoritarian system governing these elections. But once elected, senators will belong to their party's parliamentary group.
In the case of indirectly elected senators, the Constitution provides that senators nominated by regional parliaments must reflect the party composition of the nominating chamber. Thus, they all belong to political parties and are elected along party lines
d) in case of indirect election, is there an imperative mandate or a similar practice?
There is no binding mandate between the appointing regional parliament and the appointed senator. He or she cannot take instructions from Parliament nor can he or she be dismissed by Parliament.
Switzerland
The election of members of the Council of States is governed by cantonal law (art. 150 para. 3 Cst.). All cantons introduced the system of direct suffrage.
b. territorial or other criteria
i. region/provinces/municipalities/others
In each canton, two representatives to the Council of States are elected, except for a group of very small cantons (Obwalden, Nidwalden, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden), with only one representative.
ii. professional categories/ethnic/age/other
Cantons are entitled to determine the eligibility criteria, however remain bound by the Federal Constitution, in particular, the constitutional rights.
c. candidates’ independence from/affiliation with political parties
In theory, candidates without party affiliation may run for office. In practice, all members of the Council of States but one (coming from one of the smallest cantons) are party members and endorsed by their party.
d. in case of indirect election, is there an imperative mandate or a similar practice?
-----
Tunisia
As the Constitution has been newly amended, neither the Constitution nor any laws specify the mandate and powers of these local councils, how they differ from the originally established350 municipal councils or how the two will interact with each other.
United Kingdom
United States of America
The Constitution also sets out additional criteria for Senatorial candidates: (1) they must be at least 30 years old and (2) they must have been citizens of the U.S. for at least nine years.
While most U.S. Senators are affiliated with one of the major political parties, it is not a requirement to run for Senator.