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Article 17
 



Formation of Polling district electoral committees


1. No later than 65 days prior to an election, the constituency electoral committee shall determine the number of the members of each polling district electoral committee that must be amultiple of the number of the parties (their coalitions) which have the right to nominate candidates to electoral committees. If the number of the nominated candidates is insufficient or if there is a vacancy in the committee, the director of the municipality within the territory whereof the polling district is formed may nominate the needed candidates.








2. An equal number of candidates to a polling district electoral committee may be nominated by:


1) each party or a coalition of parties which received mandates of the Seimas members in the multi-member constituency during the last election. If a party received mandates of the Seimas members while in a coalition, the candidates may be nominated together with the parties in this coalition;


2) a party or a coalition of parties which during the last election to the council of the municipality to the territory whereof the polling district belongs received mandates of the municipal council members according to the list of the nominated candidates (joint list). If a party received mandates while in a coalition, candidates may be nominated together with the parties in this coalition.


3. If a party may nominate candidates in accordance with the results of both the elections to the Seimas and municipal elections it shall nominate its candidates only according to the results of one of said elections, whichever it chooses. If one of the parties which took part in an election coalition fails to nominate candidates or refuses to nominate them, or if it chooses to nominate candidates according to the results of another election when the coalition was formed, the other parties in this coalition have the right to nominate candidates without the participation of said party.


4. A party shall submit its list of candidates for the members of polling district electoral committees to the constituency polling district electoral committee no later than 48 days prior to the election.


5. Polling district electoral committees for the period of the election shall be formed by constituency electoral committees no later than 45 days before the elections. If the candidate nominated by the party meets the requirements of this Law the constituency electoral committee may not turn him down.


6. If no candidates have been nominated or the nominated candidates do not meet the requirements of this Law, or if they have been nominated after the expiration of the prescribed time limit, constituency electoral committees may reduce the number of members of the polling district electoral committee established earlier or may ask the director of the municipal administration to nominate the lacking number of candidates to the polling district electoral committee. The candidates nominated by the director of the municipal administration may not beparty members or become party members until the expiration of the term of office of an electoral committee member. If during a meeting of a constituency electoral committee that appoints a polling district electoral committee member nominated by the director of the municipal administration no less than three members of the constituency electoral committee object to the appointment of the candidate nominated by the director of the municipal administration for the post of a candidate of the polling district electoral committee, this candidate may not be appointed a member of the committee. A polling district electoral committee must be made up of at least five members.








7. Chairmen of polling district electoral committees shall be appointed from among the members of the committees by constituency electoral committees. A person having the experience of working as a chairman or member of an electoral committee or a person having higher education shall be appointed as chairman of a polling district electoral committee.


8. During its first meeting the polling district electoral committee shall elect the deputy chairman and the secretary of the committee.