Article 3 Terms of office of elected members

Subject to the provisions of this article and article 7(4) and (5), the term of office of an elected member shall be four years.

Subject to paragraph (3) and article 7(4), a person who is or has previously been a member may be elected as a member for a further term.

No person who has served as a member for an aggregate of at least eight years during the period of eleven years ending with the last occasion on which he left office (excluding in calculating that aggregate any time prior to the relevant day) shall be eligible, for a period of four years after leaving office, to be elected for a further term.

An elected member may at any time resign his office by letter addressed to the President.

When an elected member dies, resigns or otherwise ceases to be a member before completing his term of office, a person shall, subject to paragraphs (6) and (7), be elected to hold office from the date on which he is entitled to take office until the end of the unexpired term.

Subject to paragraph (7), elections to fill casual vacancies among the elected members may be postponed and held together, but no casual vacancy shall be left unfilled for a period exceeding six months.

If the unexpired term of the elected member giving rise to the casual vacancy is less than twelve months then the vacancy need not be filled.