Minutes of aggregate counting

1. On completion of the count, the Electoral Commission shall issue in triplicate an aggregate count record for the relevant constituency which shall state in detail the number of electors in all polling stations’ bureaus –on the basis of the electoral register lists and the registration certificates produced-, the number of voters, the votes polled by each candidate or list of candidates, blank votes and rejected ballot papers. After the end of the sitting a full account of the aggregate voting proceedings, shall be written in the minutes thereof, which shall be signed, together with the aggregate counting record, by the Chairman, the Commission’s members and Secretary and duly accredited candidates’ representatives-general and proxies-general.

2. Representatives and proxies of candidates or candidatures shall have one day to make objections and raise protests, provided they refer only to facts or developments contained in the minutes of polling stations’ bureaus or in the minutes of the Electoral Commissions’ sitting for the general count.

3. The Electoral Commission shall settle in writing the aforesaid complaints and notify immediately their decision to representatives and proxies of the candidate or candidature concerned. There shall lie a right of appeal against such decision by the general representatives or general proxies before the Electoral Commission itself within twenty-four hours. On the day after lodging of the appeal, the Electoral Commission shall forward the whole file, with their own report, to the Central Electoral Commission, notify forthwith the representatives of the candidate or list of candidates for the relevant constituency and summon them to appear before the Central Electoral Commission on the following day. The Central Electoral Commission, after having heard both parties for a period not exceeding two days, shall determine the appeal in the course of the following day and transmit their resolution to the corresponding Electoral Commissions so that the latter may issue the writs of elected candidates.

4. Where after the period referred to in subsection 3 above no complaints or objections have been received or the Central Electoral Commission has determined all complaints, the appropriate Electoral Commissions shall proceed within the following day to issue the writs of declaration of elected candidates, for which purpose votes cast for each candidate or candidature plus blank votes shall be counted as valid votes.

4 bis. From the voting to the proclamation of candidates elected, the Government shall, through the State’s Advocates Office and the Attorney-General, lay before the Special Division of the Supreme Court referred to in Section 61 the Judicial Power’s Institutional Act, a reasoned declaration announcing the lodging within no more than fifteen days of the petition of legal banning or the interlocutory injunction contemplated in Sections 11 and 12.3 of the Political Parties Act, and seeking the preventive suspension of the proclamation as elected of candidates having concurred for the party concerned or for the federations or coalitions of which aid party is a member. Said authorities may likewise seek preventive suspending of the proclamation of candidates elected having concurred in lists put up by electors’ groupings who may be connected with the party against which the request for dissolution or executive injunction has been lodged, or of a party already declared as illegal by a final judicial decision. The Special Division is to pronounce on the suspension within two days of the petition.

Upon filing of the petition or, as the case may be, of the interlocutory injunction the Special Division shall in its decision on admissibility thereof determine the continuance or discontinuance of preventive suspension until the conclusion of the procedure. If the suspension is maintained and the final decision outlaws the party in itself or declares it a successor of another party declared illegal, the Special Division shall also declare non-proclamation of candidates elected on
said party’s list or on the lists of federations or coalitions to which the party belongs. No subsidies may be paid under Section 127.2 of this Act as long as the suspension remains in force and payment shall only be made if the final judicial decision has rejected the petition of banning or the interlocutory injunction.

At any moment of the electoral mandate of candidates elected on lists put up by electors’ groupings, the Government may, through the State’s Advocates Office or the Attorney-General, file with the Special Division of the Supreme Court sert up by Section 61 of the Judicial Power’s Institutional Act the petition or the interlocutory injunction referred to in Sections 11. and 12.3 of Political Parties Institutional Act 6/2002, seeking the pronouncement that a connection exists
between said groupings and a party already banned or with the party whose banning is being sought.

5. Said proclamation writs shall be issued in triplicate and signed by the Chairman and the Secretary of the corresponding Commission, and shall explicitly contain the following information: number of electors in the wards of the constituency, of voters, of votes obtained by each candidate or candidature, of blank votes, of valid votes, of rejected ballot papers and of seats obtained by each candidate or list of candidates. A list with the names of elected candidates is also
to be included and mention shall equally be made of complaints and objections raised before the Electoral Commission and the respective decision and also of appeals to the Central Electoral Commission, if any, with the latter’s resolution.

6. The Commission shall file away one of the copies of the writ. The second copy shall be forwarded to the House of Parliament or Assembly or to the council where elected candidates are to sit, and the third one to the Central Electoral Commission, who shall proceed within forty days
to publish the overall results and each constituency results in the Official Gazette, without prejudice to continuation of proceedings on appeals against such declarations.

7. Certified copies of the aggregate count record shall be delivered to representatives of candidates or lists of candidates who so request and proclamation credentials shall equally be issued to elected candidates. The Electoral Commission may decide that said certifications and credentials be immediately sent to the candidates concerned through their rpresentative. 

8. On taking their seat -and as a necessary condition for full investiture- elected candidates shall swear or promise allegiance to the Constitution and compliance with all other legal requirements laid down by the corresponding acts or statutory provisions.

 1 TO 5 AS AMENDED BY SECT. 40 OF INSTITUTIONAL ACT 8/1991, OF MARCH 13
 4 BIS ADDED BY SECT. 6 OF INSTITUTIONAL ACT 3/2011, OF JANUARY 28
 6 TO 8 RENUMBERED BY SECT. 41 OF INSTITUTIONAL ACT 8/1991, OF MARCH 13. FORMER “ 4
TO 6” RESPECTIVELY