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Article 56
 

Votes’ counting and totalization by the electoral committee of the polling station



After the expiration of the time reserved for voting, the chairman of the electoral committee of the polling station shall announce the conclusion of voting and shall order the closing of the polling station. The electoral committee of the polling station shall start counting the votes.



Before opening the ballot boxes, all unused ballot papers shall be counted and annulled by the electoral committee of the polling station, by applying the stamp “Annulled”.



After having checked the integrity of the seals from the ballot boxes, the chairman of the electoral committee of the polling station, in the presence of the committee’s members and of the persons authorized to assist at electoral operations, shall open the boxes. First, the mobile ballot boxes shall be opened and the ballot papers from inside them shall be counted. Then, the rest of the boxes shall be opened.



The polling station shall be provided with enough desks, so that all the ballot papers taken from the boxes are counted in the same place, in the sight of all the members of the electoral committee of the polling station and of the rest present. On the desks deigned for votes’ counting, there shall be put the pennants with the names of the electoral competitors.



Before counting the votes obtained by the competitors, the electoral committee of the polling station shall fix the number of voters that were issued ballot papers, based on the number of voters included in the electoral lists and additional lists, next to the names of whom there is a signature applied.



The ballot papers from the mobile ballot boxes shall be counted at first separately, shall be confronted with the number of ballot papers issued for this purpose, than shall be added to the rest of the ballot papers in order to count the number of votes obtained by electoral competitors.



According to the procedure established by the electoral committee of the polling station or disposed by the Central Elections Commission or by the district electoral council, the members of the electoral committee of the polling station shall open the ballot papers to determine the voted electoral competitor. The ballot papers including the votes in favor of a given electoral competitor shall be counted and tied separately and once established the voting results, they shall be recorded in a special form for votes’ counting.



Before writing in the protocol the number of votes obtained by the electoral competitors, the members representing the electoral competitors and persons authorized to assist in electoral operations shall be given the possibility to check the data from the special form for votes’ counting.



The electoral committee of the polling station shall not include invalid ballot papers in the total number of validly expressed votes.



Since the moment the polling station is closed, the electoral committee of the polling station shall assemble during the votes’ counting and drawing up of the protocols and report of the electoral committee. The members of the electoral committee of the polling station shall stay at the polling station in order to participate in the electoral operations, save the cases of physical disability or other exceptional circumstances.