A senator for life is a member of the senate elected or appointed for lifetime. Currently, a few members of the Italian Senate are lifetime senators. Several South American countries once granted lifetime membership to former presidents but have since abolished that practice.
In Italy, a senatore a vita is a member of the Italian Senate appointed by the President of the Italian Republic "for outstanding patriotic merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field". Former Presidents of the Republic are ex officio life senators. A limit of five senators for life, excluding former Presidents, is established by the Italian constitution, though there is a still unsolved debate as to whether each President of the Republic has the right to name five senators for life, or if five is the maximum allowed number of senators for life. Till 1984 this last interpretation was considered correct, but in that year President Pertini applied the second interpretation of the Constitution, and since then no measures have been taken to clarify this situation, made even more important by the key role senators for life had during the second Prodi Government. They have the same equal power of elected senators, including the right to vote and being elected to the Presidency of the Senate. In addition, their mandate does not end with the dissolution of a Senate, allowing them to sit in any elected Senate for their whole lifetime.
Every President of the Italian Republic has made at least one appointment of a senator for life, with the exception of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, and sitting President Giorgio Napolitano so far. The president who appointed the highest number of senators for life was Luigi Einaudi, who made eight nominations during his mandate.
List of Italian life senators
As of 2008, there are seven in office:
Giulio Andreotti - aged &Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[".Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["89 years, &0000000000000309.000000309 days
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi - &Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[".Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["87 years, &0000000000000345.000000345 days
Emilio Colombo - &Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[".Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["88 years, &0000000000000221.000000221 days
Francesco Cossiga1 - &Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[".Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["80 years, &0000000000000115.000000115 days
Rita Levi-Montalcini - &Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[".Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["99 years, &0000000000000210.000000210 days
Sergio Pininfarina - &Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[".Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["82 years, &0000000000000071.00000071 days
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro - &Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[".Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["90 years, &0000000000000070.00000070 days
Members of the Canadian Senate used to be appointed for life. Since the Constitution Act, 1965, however, newly-appointed members face mandatory retirement upon reaching the age of seventy-five. Though they were grandfathered by the legislation, there are no longer any lifetime senators present in the Canadian Senate. Orville Howard Phillips, the last senator for life, resigned in 1999.
The constitutions of a number of countries in South America have granted former presidents the right to be senator for life (senador vitalicio), possibly recalling the entirely unelected Senate of Bolivarian theory (see Tricameralism#Bolivar's tricameralism). Most of these countries have since excised these provisions as they are increasingly seen as antidemocratic. The Constitution of Paraguay still has such a provision, but former presidents are permitted only to speak and not vote. Probably the most familiar case is that of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (1998-2002) whose parliamentary immunity protected him from prosecution for human rights violations until the Chilean Supreme Court revoked it in 2000.
The senators of the Empire of Brazil were appointed for lifetime (1826-1889). The emperor appointed the senator for each constituency from a list of three, indirectly elected, candidates. For details, see Senate of Brazil: History
There were about 250 senators of the Empire of Brazil:8
In France, during the Third Republic, the Senate was composed of 300 members, 75 of which were inamovible ("unremovable"). Introduced in 1875, the status was suppressed for new senators in 1884, but maintained for those in office. Émile Deshayes de Marcère, the last surviving sénateur inamovible, died in 1918. Overall there had been 116 lifetime senators. 9
.png){kind=small}
