Chapter I

Constitution of the Council

Article 1

The first meeting of the Council shall be held within one month from the closing of the Congress.

The Secretary of the Party shall convoke that meeting, and shall preside over it until such time that the President shall be installed in office.

Election of the President shall be the Meeting's first Order of the Day.

Chapter II

The Members of the Council

Article 2

Members of the Council shall be elected by the Congress, provided that they become members of the Radical Party by no later than December 31 following the Congress, at which time the mandate of those elected who have not joined the Party shall expire. In the same way, the mandate of members of the Council who have resigned from the Party shall expire.

Retired Member of the Council shall be succeeded by the first of those not elected by the Congress who is also a member of the Party.

Article 3

The resignation of a Council Member shall be submitted in written form to the President. The Council shall then deliberate on it during the first meeting after its submission. Resignations can be retracted, in writing, up until the time of that deliberation.

Should that resignation be accepted, the first of those not elected (provided he is a member of the Party at the time the resignation is submitted) shall succeed the Council Member who has resigned.

Chapter III

The President

Article 4

The election of the President shall be by secret ballot

majority vote.

Article 5

The President shall preside over the Council and represent it. He shall guarantee smooth procedure of the sessions, seeing that the statute and regulations are observed. He shall maintain Council contacts with other organs of the Party, associations, members, Radical Parliamentary Groups and the autonomous beneficiaries of the public finances assigned to the Party. He shall co-ordinate the work of the study commissions appointed by the Council and perform the duties upon request by the Council in the interests of guaranteeing the flow of information within the Party.

The President may be assisted in his activities by a secretariat elected by the Council from among its Members.

Article 6

In application of the rules and regulations, the President shall decide who shall accede to the floor and who shall leave it; he shall direct and moderate the debate, propose subjects for discussion, establish the order of voting, clarify the significance of the vote and communicate the results.

The President shall designate speakers, also from within the Council itself, on the various subjects of the order of the day.

Article 7

The President shall convoke a regular Council meeting once every two months, upon pre-established Orders of the Day. Communication of the date and place of those meetings shall be provided Members of the Council at least one week in advance. The convocation of special meetings must be made known to Members of the Council at least two days in advance.

Article 8

The President has the option to invite non Council members to attend the sessions--within certain limits--on single issues of the Order of the Day or for the entire meeting.

That invitation to non Members of the Council can also be decided on by the Council at the beginning of the session or before the beginning of debate on each issue of the Order of the Day.

Article 9

One fifth of the Members of the Council may present a Motion of a vote of no-confidence to the President, which shall be examined as the first issue of the Order of the Day in the successive session. That Motion may be passed by simple majority.

In the event that Motion is approved, the Council shall then immediately start proceedings to elect the new President.

Article 10

The resignation of the President shall be the first issue of the Order of the Day of the session successive to its submission.

Should it be accepted, the Council shall then immediately proceed with the election of a new President.

Article 11

In the event of the absence or impediment of the President, his tasks shall be performed by the Member of Council having received the largest number of votes.

Should the President forfeit his office as Councillor, the Secretary shall convoke the Council and preside over the sessions up until the time a new President is elected, which shall constitute the first issue of the Order of the Day.

Chapter IV

Commissions

Article 12

The Council shall take decisions as regards the creation of study commissions on the single issues, elect the members of those commissions and establish the period within which they shall report to the Council.

The commissions shall provide reports to the Council on their work and eventual proposals.

The Order of the Day

Article 13

The Order of the Day proposed by the President shall be debated, modified if necessary, and approved at the beginning of the session. The President is obliged to indicate in subsequent convocations those proposals for inclusion of issues in the Order of the Day presented to him by individual Members of the Council or participants by right which he has rejected.

Article 14

The Council shall not debate or take decisions on issues which are not included in the approved Order of the Day.

Chapter VI

Debate

Article 15

The Members of the Council who intend to participate in a debate shall register with the President. The President shall concede the floor in the order of those registrations.

Article 16

The President shall decide as to the time to close membership procedure and speak on the issue of the Order of the Day. At the very latest, he shall communicate that decision to the Council before ceding the floor to the member, at the end of whose intervention he intends to close.

In principle, speakers' time is unlimited. Only upon proposal by the President or individual Members of the Council, shall time limitations for presentations be voted upon. The proposals shall be presented at the beginning of the debate of each issue of the Order of the Day and shall be considered valid for the entire duration of the debate on that issue.

Article 17

The Secretary and the Treasurer may request the floor at any moment during the debate, and it shall be conceded upon termination of the presentation then in progress, without any time limit.

The President may intervene at any moment during the debate in order to recall or specify the issues of the Order of the Day, or in any case to contribute to improving progress of the session.

Article 18

Requests to take the floor in order to cite procedure is possible at any moment during the session. The floor is conceded immediately upon termination of the presentation then in progress. Decisions concerning such requests shall be the prerogative of the President, who has the option of interrogating the Council.

Article 19

Matters of procedure and motions on order may be proposed at any time. The President, once verifying their validity, shall place them immediately to the vote, after having listened to the opinions, favourable and unfavourable, of a limited number of Council Members, establishing a time limit for the presentations.

Article 20

The floor may be requested for individual presentations at the end of the intervention in progress. In such cases, anyone asking to take the floor shall state what that presentation consists of, and it shall be the prerogative of the President to establish whether or not it is valid.

Chapter VII

Voting

Article 21

Wheresoever provision is not made in exception to regulations or statute, Council decision shall be by simple majority vote, in which case, only favourable and unfavourable votes shall be considered.

Article 22

According to regulation, voting is by show of hands. Voting by roll-call shall by order of the President.

Article 23

Vote by a showing of hands is subject to a second roll-call vote upon order of the President or--in the case it is not requested--a Member of the Council, before the announcement of the results. For that verification, only those who were present at the voting to be verified shall vote.

Article 24

Modifications of regulations shall be decided upon by majority vote by those present.

APPENDIX

During the debate which led to the adoption of the regulations of the Federal Council, the Council decided to append two recommendations:

1) that during its first meeting the Council approve a preliminary schedule for its regular meetings, in order to permit Members of the Council to organise their obligations in advance; and

2) towards the same end, that communication of the dates and place of regular meetings be made--to the extent that it is possible-more in advance than the minimum established in Article 7, that is at least three weeks.