Article 40.2 provides the procedure for recounts of voting results by TECs. Recounts should begin at 9:00 hours two days after Election Day and continue for five days with no individual recount of any PEC taking more than five hours. The working hours of TECs are from 9:00 to 18:00 hours. The Code provides the TECs with discretion to extend their working hours; however, the Code should be amended to make such an extension mandatory where the number of recounts warrants it. During the 2008 Presidential elections, there were incidents where TECs did not recount all PECs for which recounts had been requested, yet they did not extend their working hours. All possible efforts should be made to conclude all recounts requested; it should not be acceptable to not finish a recount for lack of time, where a TEC had not extended their working hours to complete it. This possibility should be expressed clearly in the code.
