The submission of claims and the request for evidence
1. At the conclusion of the actions specified in article 135 of this Code, the CEC invites the parties to submit their claims and:
a) to provide explanations about the requests specified in the appeal;
b) to demonstrate the facts and evidence on which their claims rest; the types of the evidence are provided in the Code of Civil Procedure; and
c) to request the acquisition of evidence to prove facts, if the preliminary provision of this evidence was impossible for them, while submitting at the same time the reasons why it was not possible for them to secure this evidence.
2. After the submission of the claims of the parties, the CEC, at the request of each of them or on its own initiative, may decide to receive other evidence when it considers that receiving it is useful for reaching a judgement.
3. Upon the request of two of its members, the CEC is obliged to receive the evidence requested by the two members who have submitted the request. The request may be submitted in writing or verbally during the public session of the examination of the appeal.
4. The CEC may refuse a request of the appellant or of the interested party to obtain evidence under letter (c) of point 1 and point 2 of this article only if it considers that the evidence does not serve the purpose of proving the facts claimed. The CEC’s reasoning for refusing to receive evidence is to be given in detail in its final decision. The CEC may not refuse a request for evidence made in accordance with point 3 of this article.
5. The submission of the claims of the parties begins with the appellant and continues with the interested parties, in the order decided by the CEC Chairman. This order is retained during the entire proceeding.
6. Regardless of the specifications made in this article, when the CEC assesses that a fact, circumstance or event has occurred, it is accepted as evidence regardless of it not being recorded in any electoral document.
