ARTICLE 56.—­The executive power resides in the State President, who is responsible to the Volksraad.  He is chosen by a majority of the burghers entitled to vote, and for the term of five years.  He is eligible for re-election.  He must have attained the age of thirty years, and need not be a burgher of the State at the time of his nomination, and must be a member of a Protestant Church, and have no dishonouring sentence pronounced against him. (By a subsequent law the President must be chosen from among the burghers; he must be a burgher.  Outsiders are excluded.)

ARTICLE 57.—­The President is the first or highest official of the State.  All civil servants are subordinate to him; such, however, as are charged with exercise of the judicial power are left altogether free and independent in its exercise.

ARTICLE 58.—­As long as the President holds his position as such he shall fill no other, nor shall he discharge any ecclesiastical office, nor carry on any business.  The President cannot go outside the boundaries of the State without consent of the Volksraad.  However, the Executive Council shall have the power to grant him leave to go outside the boundaries of the State upon private affairs in cases of necessity.

ARTICLE 59.—­The Vice-President assumes authority in case the President is dismissed or incapable of acting, or is absent from seat of government.

ARTICLE 60.—­The President shall be discharged from his post by the Volksraad after conviction of misconduct, embezzlement of public property, treachery, or other serious crimes, and be treated further according to the laws.

ARTICLE 61.—­If in consequence of transgression of the Constitution or other public misdemeanors the Volksraad resolve that the President shall be brought to trial, he shall be tried before a special court composed of the members of the High Court, the President and another member of the Volksraad, while the State Attorney acts as Public Prosecutor.  The accused shall be allowed to secure assistance of a lawyer at his choice.

ARTICLE 62.—­The President is charged with the proposing of laws to the Volksraad, whether his own proposals or others which have come in to him from the people; he must make these proposals known to the public by means of the Staats Courant three months before presenting them to the Volksraad, together with all such other documents as are judged useful and necessary by him.

ARTICLE 63.—­All proposals for a law sent in to the President shall, before they are published, be judged by the President and Executive Council as to whether publication is necessary or not.

ARTICLE 64.—­The President submits the proposals for laws to the Volksraad, and charges the official to whose department they belong first and foremost, with their explanation and defence.

ARTICLE 65.—­As soon as the President has received the notice of the Volksraad that the proposed law is adopted, he shall have that law published within two months, and after the lapse of a month, to be reckoned from the publication, he shall take measures for the execution of the same.