The President is elected for seven years and is eligible for re-election. The choice for so long a term and the possibility of re-election corresponded closely to the prevailing idea according to which the President should constitute a fixed and permanent point in the constitutional mechanism. “Granting,” said Preuss, “that the institutions set up by our Constitution should be as profoundly as possible stamped with democratic character, it is best, for the solidity of the whole edifice, that there should be in some part of it a durable and firm framework.” The Social Democrats observed that the longer the term of the President’s powers the more difficult it would be to effect a change in the person, and consequently the greater was the danger of seeing a life President installed. They proposed to fix five years as the term for which the President could remain in power and to make re-election more than once impossible. But this proposal was rejected. * * * * * Having fixed the term of the presidential power the Constitution had to provide for the situation in which a President ceased to function before the normal expiration of his powers or found himself prevented from exercising them. It was not desired, as in the United States, to institute a Vice-President who, as permanent representative and possible successor of the President, would have the status, in the words of Preuss, of a “republican crown-prince.” The provisions which were thereupon adopted are much more supple. In case the President ceases his functions before their normal expiration, that is to say, in case of death, resignation, or impeachment, a new election is immediately held. In case he is prevented from filling his duties, there must be made a distinction according to whether this inability seems apparently of short or long duration. In the first case, that is, in case of slight illness or because of a short voyage abroad, or during the first days of a disability which seems likely to be prolonged, or in the interval between the death of a President and the election of his successor, the place of the President is filled by the Chancellor. In the second case, that is, in case of serious illness or insanity, or when a motion has been passed by the Reichstag to impeach the President, or there is inaugurated a penal prosecution of the President before the National Judicial Court, the Constitution decides that an ordinary law shall determine expressly by whom his place shall be filled. This law may according to circumstances either install a temporary Vice-President, or confer temporarily the functions of the President on the Chancellor until the President is able to resume office, or finishes his term. 3.--THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT.