Home > 1.3.2.2.2 Distance voting > BELGIUM - Electoral Code
 
 
 
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Article 180
 

§1. In the sixth month before the regular reunion of the electoral colleges as defined in article 105, the diplomatic posts and consulates ask the Belgians who are registered in the population register and who voted through the postal ballot in the last parliamentary elections in a letter to confirm their registration with the voters’ list and to precise their preferred way of vote.


Without an answer to this letter within 30 days upon its delivery the diplomatic post or consulate withdraws the name of the registered municipality from the population register of the consulate.


In the cases described in article 106, the mail mentioned in the 1st sentence is send on the day of the publication of the Royal decree defining the date of the election in the “Moniteur belge (national gazette) In these cases, without an answer to this mail within 20 days after reception, the diplomatic post or consulate withdraws the mention of the registration municipality from the consular register of the population.


The latest on the twelfth day before the vote, the Belgian citizens living abroad and having chosen to vote by postal ballot, receive from the diplomatic post or consulate where they are registered an envelope from the head of the electoral constituency, containing:


1° a return envelope “A” labeled with the address of the head of the electoral constituency where the Belgian voter living abroad originally comes from;
2° a neutral envelope “B” containing a ballot paper from the affiliated electoral constituency orderly stamped with a seal stating the date of the election and the comment “vote of Belgians living abroad”.
3° a form which the voter has to sign after filling in his name, first names, birthdate and complete address.
4° the instructions for the voter according to the model Ibis-an attached to this present Code.


For the preparation of the electoral envelopes mentioned in the first sentence, the electoral constituencies rely on the voters’ lists they have received from the Belgian registration municipalities in application of article 180bis, § 4, sentence 3.


The model of the envelopes and the form mentioned in the 1st sentence shall be defined by the Interior Minister.


§ 2. The Belgian citizen living abroad expresses his vote on the ballot paper and puts it in the neutral envelope “B” mentioned in § 1, para 4, 2°. After having put the ballot paper into the envelope, the voter closes it.


The voter puts the neutral envelope containing the ballot paper and the completely filled out form mentioned in § 1, sentence 4, 3° into the return envelope « A » and sends it to the principal Electoral Committee of the constituency.


§ 3. The return envelopes that arrive at the offices mentioned § 2, 2nd para after closing time of the polling stations in Belgium are not considered and shall be destroyed by the chairman of the principal Electoral Committee of the constituency.


§ 4. The chairman of the central electoral committee of the constituency opens the envelopes by and by as he receives them. The names of the voters on the voters’ lists that have been transmitted by the Council of burgomasters and lay judges are ticket off after verification of the given indications of those lists according to the form mentioned in § 1, vierde lid, 3°.


Een kopie van de in artikel 146 bedoelde staat van de kiezers wordt door de chairman van het hoordbureau aan de federale overheidsdienst Buitenlandse Zaken, Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking overgezonden. Deze laatste waakt erover dat de vermelding van de gemeente van inschrijving van de betrokken kiezers door de diplomatieke en consulaire beroepsposten wordt geschrapt in de consulaire bevolkingsregisters.


The neutral envelopes “B” containing the ballot papers shall be sealed and stored until the beginning of the tallying of the votes.


§ 5. On the day of the election, at closing time of the polling stations the head of the central electoral committee of the constituency shall proceed to the tallying of the votes of the Belgians living abroad by dividing the ballot papers between the vote counting sites of the district in which the chef-lieu of the constituency is part of.


The vote counting sites mentioned in the 1st sentence shall only start their operations after having mixed the ballot papers of the Belgian voters living abroad with the ballot papers mentioned in article 149 1st sentence.


In case the district mentioned in the 1st sentence is fully automatically operated, the head of the central electoral committee of the electoral constituency divides the ballot papers of the Belgians living abroad among the polling stations of a different district of this electoral constituency.


The ballot papers of the Belgian voters living abroad from the electoral district of Sint- Genesius-Rode/Rhode-Saint-Genèse for the elections to the House of Representatives are counted by the polling station appointed by the principal electoral committee of the district of Rhode-Saint- Genèse/ Sint-Genesius-Rode.


If the electoral constituency is fully automatically operated, the head of the central electoral committee of the constituency shall set up one or several manually operated polling stations in accordance with the articles in the present Code.