Appointment of the assistants and substitutes, sending out of persons of confidence

(1) The assistants and substitutes to form the new federal elections authority, for the purposes of every election, are to be appointed by the federal government.

(2) The appointment of an assistant and substitute in the remaining elections authorities to be newly established is the duty of the respective returning officer. In the case of the provincial elections authorities, this is the duty of the federal returning officer; in that of the district elections authorities, of the provincial returning officer and in the case of the municipal and ward elections authorities this is the duty of the district returning officer. If, as a result of this procedure, there are any changes in the composition of the elections authorities as opposed to the time of the announcement of the elections, the representatives of the parties affected by this change (§ 14, para 1) have to present the necessary proposals before a deadline set for this purpose by the elections authorities.

(3) Assistants and substitutes who are not professional judges are appointed on the basis of the proposals of the parties following the d’Hondt procedure depending on the results achieved by them in the last National Council elections in the area of the elections authorities, in the case of ward elections authorities in the area of the municipality and in the case of municipal elections authorities of towns with their own charter in the area of the electoral district. In cases in which a party has not applied, or has not applied in due time, for the appointment of the assistants allocated to it, no assistants are to be appointed.
For the federal elections authority, parties taking part in the elections which are represented in the National Council last elected but would not be entitled to delegate an assistant on the basis of the d’Hondt procedure can nominate one assistant each. The remaining number of assistants is to be allocated to the remaining parties taking part in the elections on the basis of the d’Hondt procedure according to their results achieved in the last National Council election.

(4) When a party (§ 14, para 1) does not have the right, according to para 3, to appoint an assistant and when it has been represented in the last elected National Council by at least three of its members, it has the right to be represented in every elections authority by not more than two representatives. In the case of provincial and federal elections authority, this right is also granted to parties, not represented in the last elected National Council.
These representatives have to be invited to the meetings of the elections authorities. They take part in the proceedings, but do not have the right to vote. As for the rest, the regulations set out in para 1, 2, and 5, as well as § 6, para 3, § 14, § 16, para 2, § 19, paras 1, 2, first sentence of para 3, paras 4 and 5, § 20 and § 56 last sentence of para 1 apply accordingly.

(5) The names of the members of the elections authorities are to be published, in conformity with local custom.