Time of the Election

The election of a prior provincial shall normally occur in a provincial chapter, or extraordinarily in a simple elective assembly (see n. 351, II).

1. If it happens that a prior provincial ceases to hold office before the end of the four-year term, the Master of the Order, after consulting the vicar and the council of the province, shall determine the date of the election and the conditions – namely, whether the prior provincial shall be elected in an ordinary provincial chapter or in a simple elective assembly.
2. In this case, the Master of the Order has power to shorten or extend the four-year term of the prior provincial to be elected in such a way that the following election may be celebrated again during the normal provincial chapter at the usual time.

When the election of a prior provincial is to be held in a simple elective assembly, the electors are the brothers who according to our laws constitute a provincial chapter, and thus everything which is prescribed for a provincial chapter, on the convocation of the voters and on the different elections to be held, must be observed.