Home > 2.1.1 Electoral commissions > ROMANIA - Law no. 208/2015 on the election of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, as well as on the organisation and functioning of the Permanent Electoral Authority
 
 
 
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Article 12
 

(1) The Central Electoral Bureau has the following main powers:


a) to monitor the unitary application of the legal provisions concerning the elections and ensure the unitary interpretation of their provisions;


b) to ensure publication in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I, of the list containing the electoral names and symbols of the political parties, political alliances, electoral alliances and organisations of citizens belonging to the national minorities, legally set up, which are entitled to take part in the elections and to communicate the list to all constituency electoral bureaus, immediately after their setting up;
c) to settle objections concerning its own activity and challenges concerning the activity of constituency electoral bureaus; challenges shall be settled through decisions binding for the respective electoral bureau, as well as for the public authorities and institutions that they concern, under the penalties referred to by law;
d) to receive the lists of supporters of the lists of candidates proposed by the political parties, organisations of citizens belonging to national minorities, political alliances, electoral alliances, if they choose to file the lists of supporters at national level and to communicate to the constituency electoral bureaus the list of electoral competitors entitled to file candidatures in all electoral constituencies;
e) to publish and display all the documents referred to by this law concerning the candidatures;
f) to centralise, based on the communications received from the constituency electoral bureaus, the number of final candidatures submitted by the political parties, political alliances, electoral alliances and organisations of citizens belonging to national minorities; to communicate the centralised situation to the special committee in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies for the allotment of the broadcasting time, within 24 hours from its drawing up, as well as to the Romanian Television Corporation and to the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company;
g) to draw up, based on the minutes sent by the constituency electoral bureaus, the list of political parties, political alliances, electoral alliances and organisations of citizens belonging to the national minorities having reached the electoral threshold, as well as the list of those that have not reached the electoral threshold and to communicate these lists to the constituency electoral bureaus and to make them public, within 24 hours from their ascertaining; h) to annul the elections in a polling station or electoral constituency if it finds that the voting or the setting of the results of the vote took place through electoral fraud;
i) it can order the recounting of the votes in a polling station or a new centralisation of the votes and of the vote results in an electoral constituency if it ascertains, based on the evidence administered, that errors have been committed or discrepancies have been recorded between the data recorded in the minutes;
j) to total the results at national level, based on the minutes received from the electoral bureaus set up at lower levels;
k) to send to the Permanent Electoral Authority, after the publication of the result of the elections in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I, the materials necessary for drawing up the White Paper of the elections;
l) to establish, at national level, the number of mandates, in every electoral constituency, to which every political party, political alliance, electoral alliance, organisation of citizens belonging to a national minority, independent candidate taking part in the elections is entitled, according to this law;
m) to certify the allotment of a seat of Deputy to the organisation of citizens belonging to national minorities having met the conditions referred to in Article 56 and to deliver a certificate of proof to the Deputy appointed on this basis;
n) to send for publication the final results of the elections to “Monitorul Oficial” R.A.;
o) to organise and implement a system for data collection and periodical information of the public opinion about voter turnout;
p) to fulfil any other powers incumbent upon it under this law.


(2) If, when settling a challenge, factual verifications are necessary, these are conducted in the presence of a judge of the Central Electoral Bureau. Such verifications cannot be conducted on the day of the elections.


(3) The request for the annulment of the elections in a polling station or electoral constituency for electoral fraud can only be lodged by the electoral competitors having taken part in the elections in the respective electoral constituency. The request shall be filed with the Central Electoral Bureau within 48 hours, at the most, from the closing of the vote, under penalty of losing this right. The request must be thoroughly motivated and accompanied by the elements of proof on which it relies. The lack of proof entails the dismissal of the request. The request can be upheld only if the author of the referral is not involved in the fraud and only if it can be established that this was likely to modify the allotment of the mandates. The settlement of the request for the annulment of the elections by the Central Electoral Bureau shall be done within three days from its registration, at the most. The decision of the Central Electoral Bureau can be challenged within 24 hours from being made public before the High Court of Cassation and Justice, which settles it within three days, at the most, from the date of referral. Within ten days, at the most, from the date the upholding of the request for the annulment of the elections remains final by final court ruling, a new ballot shall be held in the polling stations or in the electoral constituency where the electoral fraud was found. The constituency electoral bureau, together with the local public administration authorities, shall ensure the proper unfolding of the new ballot, with due application of the provisions of this law. Until the new results are obtained, the electoral operations concerning the counting of the votes and the ascertaining of the results are suspended.


(4) Within the meaning of this law, electoral fraud means any act incriminated by law committed before, during or after the closing of the vote or during the counting of the votes and the drawing up of the minutes, which leads to the alteration of the will of the voters and the creation of advantages translated into more mandates for an electoral competitor.


(5) While exercising the powers incumbent upon it according to the provisions of this law, the Central Electoral Bureau shall adopt decisions and decrees. The decrees of the Central Electoral Bureau are issued for the unitary interpretation of the law and are generally binding. The decisions of the Central Electoral Bureau are issued in accordance with the provisions of this law, as well as for the settlement of the objections and challenges that it is competent to settle. The decisions of the Central Electoral Bureau are binding for all public authorities and institutions, all electoral bureaus, as well as for all bodies with powers in the electoral field, once they are made public in public session. The decisions are communicated in public session and by any means of publicity and the decrees are published in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I.


(6) The Central Electoral Bureau shall cease its activity within 48 hours from the publication, in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I, of the results of the vote, in compliance with the provisions of this law.