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Article 33.
 

Organization of Activities of District and Precinct Election Commissions


1. An election commission shall be a collective body. The main form of work of an election commission shall be its meeting, which shall be convened by the head of the commission or, in case of his or her absence, by the deputy head, or, in case of absence of the head and deputy head, by the secretary of the commission. 27 CDL-REF(2016)040


2. If necessary, a meeting of an election commission may be convened by a decision of the higher level election commission.


3. Upon a written request of at least one-third of the election commission members, the head or deputy head of the election commission shall convene a meeting of the commission no later than on the day following the day of the receipt of such a request. 4. The first meeting of an election commission shall be convened by its head no later than on the third day following the day of its establishment, with subsequent meetings being convened as needed. If an election commission is established simultaneously with the establishment of an election precinct as provided for by Part 13 Article 28 of this Law, the first meeting of a commission shall be convened no later than on the day following its establishment.


5. A meeting of an election commission shall be deemed plenipotentiary if more than half of the commission members are present.


6. A meeting of an election commission shall be convened with mandatory notification of all members of a commission of the time, place where the meeting will be held, and its agenda.


7. The members of an election commission shall be provided with draft decisions of the commission and the necessary documents, as a rule, no later than on the day preceding the day of the commission’s meeting, but in any case no later than before the beginning of the meeting.


8. A meeting of an election commission shall be chaired by the head of commission or his or her deputy; should the head or his deputy fail to exercise their duties or be absent, including on the day of voting and in particular during the vote counting at the election precinct and tabulation of the voting results within the single-mandate election district, at each such meeting the commission shall elect a chairman of the meeting from among its members.


9. Upon request of three members of a commission, as well as by decision of a higher level election commission or judgment of a court, an election commission shall consider at its meeting matters within the scope of its competence, no later than within three days of the submission of the request or the adoption of the decision, but in any case no later than on the day of voting; and on the day of voting (except for a precinct election commission), without delay. A precinct election commission shall consider at its meeting matters within the scope of its competence upon request of the aforementioned commission members [submitted] on the day of voting, or at its meeting immediately after the close of voting in case of a decision of a higher level commission or a court judgment.


10. Any decision of an election commission shall be adopted in an open vote by a majority of the commission members, except in cases provided for by this Law, after its consideration and discussion at a meeting of the election commission. {Part 10 Article 33 as amended pursuant to the Law № 709-VII dd. 21.11.2013}


11. Any decision of a commission shall come into effect as soon as it is adopted, except in cases provided for by this Law.


12. On the day of voting, and in particular during vote counting and tabulation of the voting results within an election district, if at the meeting of a district or precinct election commission less than two-thirds of the commission members are present, decisions of the commission shall CDL-REF(2016)040 be adopted by at least two-thirds of the commission members present at the commission meeting.


13. Any member of an election commission present at a meeting who disagrees with the commission’s decision shall have the right to file a written dissenting opinion on the decision within two days of the meeting at which the decision was adopted; the opinion shall be attached to the minutes of the respective meeting of the election commission and shall constitute an integral part thereof.


14. A decision of an election commission made within the scope of its competence shall be binding upon all electoral subjects, state executive bodies, state bodies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and local self-government bodies, their officials, enterprises, institutions, establishments, organizations and their officials, mass media organizations, their owners, officials and production personnel, and civic associations.


15. Any decision of an election commission which fails to comply with Laws of Ukraine or has been adopted beyond the scope of its powers can be canceled by the higher level election commission or considered illegal and repealed by a court. In such case, the higher level commission shall have the right to make a decision on the merits of the issue.


16. Applications, complaints and other documents filed with an election commission shall be accepted and registered in accordance with procedures approved by a decision of the Central Election Commission.


17. In order to ensure organizational, legal, and technical support for the exercise of the powers provided for by this Law, an election commission shall be granted the right to engage, on the basis of contracts, relevant specialists, experts, and technical personnel.


18. No one may interfere with the activities of election commissions, except in cases stipulated by the law.