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Article 57
 

(1) The Central Election Commission shall:


1. implement the activities and exercise control as to the application of this Code and the statutory instruments related thereto;
2. implement methodological guidance and exercise control over the operation of the election commissions;
3. issue methodological guidelines for the operation of the election commissions in application of this Code;
4. ensure and resource the creation of Internet sites of the constituency election commissions and municipal election commissions;
5. appoint the constituency election commissions, the municipal election commissions and the section election commissions abroad and endorse lists of alternate members; appoint the section election commissions within Bulgaria as well, in the cases where the constituency election commission or the municipal election commission has failed to appoint the said commissions in due time;
6. dismiss members of constituency election commissions and municipal election commissions and of section election commissions abroad in the cases of violations of this Code and of the decisions of the Central Election Commission, as well as upon occurrence of any circumstance covered under Article 51 (2) herein;
7. determine, by means of a methodology, the remunerations of the members of election commissions and of the experts with the said commissions;
8. endorse a standard design of the seal of the election commissions and the method of protection of the said design;
9. keep a public register of the voters; ensure to each voter searchability of the register by Standard Public Registry Personal Number (Personal Number);
10. register, make public and issue certificates to:


(a) the parties and coalitions for contesting all types of elections;
(b) the nomination committees for entry in elections of President and Vice President of the Republic and of Members of the European Parliament for the Republic of Bulgaria;


11. strike the registration of any party which does not satisfy the requirements of Item 5 of Article 133 (3) herein and of any coalition which does not satisfy the requirements of Item 6 of Article 140 (3) herein;
12. register and make public the candidate lists of the parties, coalitions and nomination committees upon elections of President and Vice President of the Republic and of Members of the European Parliament for the Republic of Bulgaria;
13. keep public registers of:


(а) the parties and coalitions upon all types of elections;
(b) the nomination committees upon elections of President and Vice President of the Republic and of Members of the European Parliament for the Republic of Bulgaria
(c) the candidate lists for President and Vice President of the Republic and for Members of the European Parliament for the Republic of Bulgaria;


14. establish the terms and procedure for participation of observers not later than 50 days in advance of polling day, registerthe observers and issue certificates to the observers; keep a public register of the observers;
15. register, until polling day, the election agents of the candidate lists abroad and issue certificates to the said agents; keep a public register of the election agents by candidate list;
16. determine the structure and the content of the uniform numbering of the voting sections;
17. determine the places where voting sections abroad will be established;
18. generate and endorse the uniform numbers of the voting sections abroad;
19. endorse the standard technical design and the security features of the ballot not later than 30 days in advance of polling day; endorse a specimen of a book of paper ballots;
20. publish a list stating the numbers and addresses of the voting sections in the constituencies (districts) and the number of voters therein;
21. (amended and supplemented, SG No. 39/2016, effective 26.05.2016) determine by lots the sequential numbers on the ballot assigned to the parties and coalitions upon elections of National Representatives, the sequential numbers on the ballot assigned to the parties, coalitions and independent candidates upon elections of Members of the European Parliament for the Republic of Bulgaria, the order of appearance of the candidate lists on the ballot upon elections of President and Vice President of the Republic and the sequential numbers on the ballots assigned to the parties and coalitions upon elections of municipal councillors and mayors, and make public the said numbers not later than 31 days in advance of polling day;
22. establish the terms and procedure for conduct of the election campaign;
23. control the handling of the election campaign by the media service providers operating within a national range;
24. for the exercise of the control referred to in Item 23 and for the establishment of breaches by the media service providers, require information from the Council for Electronic Media on the specialised monitoring performed, whereof the scope and parameters shall be determined under an agreement between the Commission and the Council for Electronic Media concluded prior to the opening of the election campaign, irrespective of the territorial range of the programme services; in case such monitoring applies to any media service provider which does not operate within a national range, the Commission shall transmit the information on the said monitoring to the competent election commission;
25. establish the terms and procedure for conduct of sociological surveys on polling day not later than 20 days in advance of polling day; keep a public register of the sociological agencies;
26. (amended, SG No. 39/2016, effective 26.05.2016) examine all complaints and alerts about irregularities affecting the election process in accordance with the powers vested therein, including against steps of the constituency election commissions, municipal election commissions and section election commissions abroad, pronounce on any such complaints and alerts within 24 hours after the arrival thereof; on polling day, pronounce by a decision within one hour after the arrival of any such complaint or alert and before the closing of the polls;
26a. (new, SG No. 39/2016, effective 26.05.2016) examine all complaints against decisions of the constituency election commissions, municipal election commissions and section election commissions abroad; on polling day, pronounce by a decision within one hour after the receipt of any such complaint or alert and before the closing of the polls;
27. (supplemented, SG No. 39/2016, effective 26.05.2016) establish the procedure for examination of complaints and alerts by the election commissions and publish the said complaints and alerts on the Internet site of the Commission;
27a. (new, SG No. 39/2016, effective 26.05.2016) complete the pending administrative penalty proceedings after the expiry of the term of credentials of the constituency election commission;
28. keep a public register of the complaints and alerts lodged with the Commission and of the decisions on the said complaints and alerts;
29. establish the terms and procedure for machine voting;
30. (amended, SG No. 98/2014, effective 28.11.2014) establish the procedure for a check for voting in breach of the rules of this Code, including for a check of the decisions referred to in Article 39 herein and the certificates referred to in Article 40 herein, and assign the conduct of such check to the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Administrative Services at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works;
31. provide the results of the check referred to in Item 30 to the persons concerned and, upon detection of voting in breach of the rules of this Code, apprise the prosecuting magistracy;
32. (amended, SG No. 39/2016, effective 26.05.2016) provide information; organise and conduct, through the mass communication media, an awareness campaign regarding citizens’ rights and duties in the preparation and conduct of the elections, including regarding machine voting; the awareness campaign shall commence not later than 15 days prior to the expiry of the relevant time limit whereafter rights and duties arise for the citizens in connection with the elections;
33. establish the terms, procedure and timeframe for commissioning of the computer processing of the voting data not later than 50 days in advance of polling day;
34. commission the computer processing of the voting data and the publication of the election results in a bulletin, including the machine voting results;
35. (amended, SG No. 98/2014, effective 28.11.2014) determine the format and the structured electronic image of the lists, as well as the procedure for a check of the lists for the entry of independent candidates and commission the execution of the said check to the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Administrative Services at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works;
36. (amended, SG No. 98/2014, effective 28.11.2014) establish the procedure for a check of the lists of the voters supporting the registration of the parties and coalitions, as well as the procedure for a check of the candidate lists, and commission the execution of the said checks to the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Administrative Services at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works;
37. determine the uniform numbering and the security features of non-resident voting certificates before each election; 
38. communicate data on the number of voters who have voted before the time limit referred to in Item 39;
39. (amended, SG No. 39/2016, effective 26.05.2016) declare the polls closed after completion of the voting within the territory of Bulgaria not later than 21:00 hours;
40. publish, on the Internet site thereof, preliminary results of the processing of the tally sheets of the section election commissions in the constituency election commissions or the municipal election commissions disaggregated by voting section;
41. publish, on the Internet site thereof, the voting results, including the machine voting results, disaggregated by voting section and, upon request, provide the said results to parties, coalitions and nomination committees stored on a machine-readable data medium;
42. publish the election results disaggregated by voting section in the bulletin referred to in Item 34, including a machine-readable data medium as well, not later than 40 days after polling day;
43. deliver to the National Archival Fonds the copy of the tally sheets of the section election commissions, constituency election commissions and municipal election commissions;
44. endorse the standard designs of the direction signs and panels, as well as the standard designs of the distinguishing signs of election agents, the observers and the representatives of parties, coalitions and nomination committees not later than 55 days in advance of polling day;
45. adopt a decision on the removal or seizure of canvassing materials placed or circulated in violation of this Code in an area spanning multiple constituencies (districts) or where affecting multiple constituencies (districts);
46. determine the recordable circumstances and establish the procedure for keeping and maintaining the public registers by the election commissions;
47. analyse the elections conducted and submit to the National Assembly a report which may contain proposals for improvement of election legislation;
48. (new, SG No. 39/2016, effective 26.05.2016) adopt rules for the application of this Code.


(2) The decisions of the Central Election Commission shall forthwith be made public by means of publication on the Internet site of the Commission and in the bulletin of the Bulgarian News Agency.


(3) The Central Election Commission shall implement other powers as well as provided for in this Code.