set forth in Article 97, and shall likewise have its own staff as its personnel.
Art. 77—The Tribunal of Accounts shall have power:
I—to follow and control directly, or through delegations created by law, the execution of the budget;
II—to judge the accounts of those responsible for public funds and other property, as well as the accounts of the administrators of autarchic entities;
III—to judge the legality of contracts, retirements, removals and pensions.
§ 1. Contracts which in any wise shall affect receipts or expenditures shall be considered complete only after they have been registered by the Tribunal. Refusal of registry shall suspend the execution of the contract until the National Congress shall issue pronouncement.
§ 2. Any act of public administration which may result in an obligation of payment by the National Treasury or for its accounts, shall be subject to registry in the Tribunal of Accounts, either before or afterwards, as the law may determine.
§ 3. In any case, the refusal of registry for lack of credit balance or for charge to an improper credit, shall have prohibitive character. When the refusal shall have other basis, the expenditure may be made after an order by the President of the Republic, registry with reservation by the Tribunal of Accounts and appeal ex-officio to the National Congress.
§ 4. The Tribunal of Accounts shall give its prior opinion within a period of sixty days, upon the accounts which the President of the Republic is to render annually to the National Congress. If these are not sent within the period of the law, it shall communicate the fact to the National Congress for the purposes of law, presenting to it in either case, a detailed report of the financial and fiscal year terminated.
Chapter III
The Executive Power
SECTION I
The President and the Vice President of the Republic
Art. 78—The Executive Power is exercised by the President of the Republic.
Art. 79—The President shall be replaced, in case of impediment and succeeded, in case of vacancy in office, by the Vice President of the Republic.
§ 1. In case of impediment or vacancy in office of the President and of the Vice President of the Republic, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the Vice President of the Federal Senate and the President of the Federal Supreme Court shall be successively called to the exercise of the presidency.
§ 2. In case of vacancy in office of the President and Vice President of the Republic an election shall be held sixty days after the occurrence of the last vacancy. If the vacancies should occur in the second half of the presidential period, the election for both offices shall be held thirty days after the last vacancy by the National Congress in the form established by law. In either case those elected shall complete the period of their predecessors.
Art. 80—The conditions of eligibility for President and Vice President of the Republic are:
I—be a Brazilian (Article 129, I and II);
II—be in the exercise of political rights;
III—be over thirty-five years of age.
Art. 81—The President and Vice President of the Republic shall be elected simultaneously throughout the country, one-hundred and twenty days before the expiration of the presidential period.
Art. 82—The President and Vice President of the Republic shall hold office for five years.
Art. 83—The President and the Vice President of the Republic shall take office at a session of the National Congress or, if the Congress is not in session, before the Federal Supreme Court.
Sole paragraph—The President of the Republic, upon taking office, shall take the following pledge: "I promise to maintain, defend and comply with the Constitution of the Republic, observe its laws, promote the general welfare of Brazil, maintain its union, its integrity and its independence."
Art. 84—If the President or the Vice President of the Republic have not taken office thirty days after the date fixed for their doing so, except because of illness, the office shall be declared vacant by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
Art. 85—The President and the Vice President of the Republic cannot leave the country without permission of the National Congress, under penalty of the loss of their office.
Art. 86—During the last legislative year previous to the election of the President and the Vice President of the Republic, their subsidies shall be fixed by the National Congress.
SECTION II
The Attributes of the President of the Republic
Art. 87—The President of the Republic shall have exclusive power:
I—to approve, promulgate and have the laws published and to issue decrees and regulations for their faithful execution;
II—to veto bills in accordance with Article 70, § 1;
III—to appoint and dismiss the Ministers of State;
IV—to appoint and dismiss the Mayor of the Federal District (article 26, §§ 1 & 2) and the members of the National Council of Economy (article 205, § 1);
V—to fill federal public offices according to law and with the exceptions established by this Constitution;
VI—to maintain relations with foreign States;
VII—to celebrate international treaties and conventions subject to ratification of the National Congress;
VIII—to declare war, upon authorization by the National Congress, but without this authorization in the case of foreign aggression, when such occurs in the interval between legislative sessions;
IX—to make peace, with authorization and subject to ratification of the National Congress;
X—upon authorization by the National Congress, but without this authorization in the interval between legislative sessions, to permit foreign forces to pass through the territory of the Country or, by reason of war, to remain therein temporarily;
XI—to exercise supreme command of the armed forces, administering them through the medium of the competent organs;
XII—to decree total or partial mobilization of the armed forces;
XIII—to decree state of siege under the terms of this Constitution;
XIV—to decree and execute federal intervention under the terms of Articles 7 to 14;
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