Home > 1.3.2.2.3 Other special voting procedures > THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA - Electoral Code
 
 
 
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Article 31
 

(1) The State Election Commission shall safeguard the legality of the preparation and the administration of the elections in accordance with this Code and shall supervise the work of the election management bodies.
(2) The State Election Commission shall:
1. request data from the competent bodies regarding the employees in the state administration, municipal administration and the administration of the City of Skopje as well as regarding the employees in the public administration and shall appoint the members of the Municipal Election Commissions and the Election Commission of the City of Skopje;
2. give instructions, explanations and recommendations on the implementation of the provisions of this Code and the implementation of other laws referring to elections related issues;
3. dismiss any member of an election management body in case of unlawful activities;
4. control the legality of the work of the election bodies and undertake measures in cases of determined legal violations in the preparations, the procedure for candidacy, the administration of the elections and the determining of the election results, as well as in case of violation of the instructions and recommendations issued by the State Election Commission;
5. confirm and publish the lists of candidates for election of President and election of Members of Parliament and determine their sequence on the ballot by drawing lots;
5-a determines the sequence of the single list of candidates for members of the council, i.e. candidates for mayor by drawing lots.
6. adopt a programme and establish standards for obligatory education of all election bodies and coordinate the same;
7. administer obligatory education of the members of the Municipal Election Commissions i.e. Election Commission of the City of Skopje before every elections and shall issue certificates in manner and in timeframe prescribed by the programme;
8. prescribe the template for the education attendance certificate for the members of the election management bodies;
9. establish common standards regarding the election material, take care of its procurement and prescribe the means of marking and checking the persons who have voted (UV lamp, spray 1and graphite pad);
10. prescribe templates for conducting elections and templates for collecting signatures of voters and Members of Parliament for nominating candidates and publish them in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia”;
11. determine the manner of handling and securing the election material;
12. determine the quality, form, size, colour and serial numbers of the ballots;
13. organize the printing of ballots and candidates’ lists and procurement of the voter identification system;
14. deliver, receive and keep the election materials from the Municipal Election Commissions, i.e. and Election Commission of the City of Skopje;
14-a keep the election materials from the elections of the President of the Republic, members of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia and referendum on a national level.


15. inform and educate the public about the manner of voting and the exercise of the right to vote;
16. adopt a Code on the rules for observing the elections by domestic and foreign observers, in accordance with international standards, and provide them with identification documents;
17. control the polling stations where irregularities are reported on Election Day;
18. confirm with a decision the adopted lists of candidates or reject the same in cases when they are not composed in accordance with the provisions of this Code;
19. adopt a Rulebook to determine the criteria for the manner and procedure of election and dismissal of president, his/her deputy president, members and their deputies in election management bodies;
20. tabulate and determine the results from the voting for the lists of candidates on the level of electoral district;
21. publish the preliminary results of the elections of President of the Republic, Members of Parliament, Members of Council and Mayor based on the data in the protocols of the election bodies;
22. publish the final results of the administered elections;
23. issue certificates to the candidate elected as President of the Republic and to the candidates elected as Members of Parliament;
24. adopt a Rulebook and Instruction for the reimbursement of members of the election management bodies and the election administration, based on the number of voters, type, complexity and the scope of activities and the time needed for their completion;
25. submit a report to the Parliament on the administered elections within 45 days of the date of the announcement of the final results of the elections at the level of the municipality, the City of Skopje i.e. the electoral district where the elections take place and a financial overview and shall publish it on its web page;
26. dispense the compensation of the expenses of the elected candidates according to the submitted financial report and publishes it on its web page;
27. adopt the act for organization and systematization of the Professional Service of the State Election Commission within which a Legal Service shall be organized and systematized and shall establish the supporting bodies;
28. publish the descriptions of the polling stations in the daily press;
28-а. establishes electronic system for case and complaints management;
28-b. is solely responsible for maintenance of the Voter List;
28-c. provides electronic access to the Voter List, in line with the provisions for protection of personal data of citizens;
28-d. The State Election Commission shall publish the Voter List on its webpage, with the following data: name, surname and address of voters. Every citizen has the right to submit a request to the State Election Commission to prevent publication of his/her address in the Voter List due to security reasons.
28-e. Once a month, the State Election Commission shall update the Voter List, based on citizen notifications of change of data. Every 6 months, the State Election Commission shall publicly encourage the citizens to check their data, and if necessary, request change of their data.
28-f. Every member of the State Election Commission, for the purposes of detecting inconsistencies or verifying the credibility of the Voter List data, has the right to request that the State Election Commission authorizes the Legal Department to check the Ministry of Internal Affairs archives of biometric documents, as well as other state organs and institutions’ data bases and archives of citizens, in a procedure established by law, or a bylaw, and within 5 working days to receive a written notification on the conducted checks.
28-g. The State Election Commission shall adopt a Rulebook on the Methodology for maintenance and updating of the Voter List based on checks and statistical analyses, cross-checks of various data bases and records, unlimited field checks and other appropriate acknowledged methods of checks. The State Election Commission shall adopt the Rulebook of item 28-е upon previous agreement of the four largest political parties in the Parliament of Republic of Macedonia.
28-h. The State Election Commission shall adopt a Rulebook for Methodology on Full Access, Interventions and Deletion of Data on the Voter List, as well as a procedure for conducting field checks for the purposes of updating the Voter List. The State Election Commission shall adopt the Rulebook of item 28-h upon previous agreement of the four largest political parties in the Parliament of Republic of Macedonia.”
29. keep a records and safeguards the protection of the personal data of the citizens contained the Voters List;
30. check the integrity of the database on the Voters List;
31. sign the Voters List, i.e. the excerpts of the Voters List used for voting, no later than 15 days prior to Election Day;
32. establish contacts with the international associations and organizations authorized to observe the elections i.e. the referendum on the national level, on issues regarding the Voters List;
33. provide the media with data regarding the number of voters registered in the signed Voters List i.e. the excerpts;
34. adopt Rules and Procedure for its own work and the decision-making of the members of the State Election Commission;
34-а) The State Election Commission shall hold sessions if these are attended by the majority of the total number of members;
34-b) The State Election Commission shall adopt decisions with majority of votes of the total number of members of the Commission. During decision-making the members of the State Election Commission shall vote “for” or “against“. The vote of “abstinence” shall not be allowed and in such case, the vote shall be considered “against”;
34-c) A decision of the State Election Commission shall be considered adopted upon voting of the majority of the total number of members of the Commission, except in the case specified in item 34–d and item 34-f of this Article;
34-d) In case when the draft-decision refers to interests of a non-majority community, prior to putting the draft-decision for vote, any member of the State Election Commission who belongs to the non-majority community has a right to request that the State Election Commission decide upon such draft-decision with consensus;
34–e) In the case prescribed in item 34-d of this Article, the draft-decision shall be submitted for a repeat review at the Legal Department, which will be asked to give an expert opinion and a recommendation;
34-f) The member of the State Election Commission of item 34-d of this Article and the member or the members of the State Election Commission with opposing opinions shall consult the Legal Department within one working day as of submission of the request of item 34-d of this Article. These members of the State Election Commission, within 2 working days, shall propose a supplemented and elaborated decision. In order for the decision to be considered adopted, the submitted draft-decision must be voted in with a consensus by the State Election Commission;


34–g) If within 2 working days a consensus is not reached with regard to the draft-decision, and the decision is not adopted with a consensus by the State Election Commission, the decision shall not be considered adopted and as such can be appealed before the Administrative Court;
34–h) Against the decision of the Administrative Court, only in case of item 34–d), 34-f) and 34–е), a right to an appeal is allowed before the Higher Administrative Court. The Higher Administrative Court shall decide upon the appeal within the deadlines prescribed with this Code for the decision-making of the Administrative Court;
34–i) The manner and the decision-making procedure of item 34-f) of this Article shall not be subject to the deadlines set in Articles 147 to 149 of this Code;
35. decide upon complaints based on inspection of the election materials and other evidence;
36. adopt Rulebook on the behaviour of the police during the elections in co-operation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
37. adopt an instruction for taking decisions on complaints and appeals;
38. monitor the commencement and the completion of the election campaign and undertakes measures determined by this Code;
39. prescribe the template for voter application for voting in the DCO, i.e. consular offices;
40. elects and forms the Election Boards for voting at the DCO, i.e. the consular offices and the Election Board for the voting of the members of the Election Boards at the DCO, i.e. the consular offices;
40-a adopt Guidelines on the manner of voting of the members of the Election Boards in the DCO, i.e. consular offices;
41. deliver and receive the election material to and from the Election Boards for voting at the DCO, i.e. consular offices, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
42. tabulate and determine the voting results for the candidate list for the election of three Members of Parliament from the electoral district which covers Europe, Africa, North and South America, Australia and Asia;
43. complete and submit statistical data for the needs of the State Statistical Office of the Republic of Macedonia;
43-a publicly announce the price lists of broadcasting and printed media on its web site;
43-b keeps minutes of its sessions and publishes the approved minutes on its website within 48 hours from the date of their adoption.
44. Perform other duties prescribed by this Code.
(3) The sessions of the State Election Commission shall be public.
(4) The State Election Commission shall initiate a disciplinary procedure, submit request for initiation of misdemeanor procedure or submit criminal charges to the respective organ, in case there are grounds of suspicion of a violation of the provisions of this Code.
(5) The templates and the entire election material for the municipality where at least 20% of the citizens speak an official language different from Macedonian, shall be printed in the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet and also in the official language and alphabet spoken by at least 20% of the citizens in that municipality.
(6) The templates and the entire election material for the electoral districts 7, 8 and 9 from this Code, in which at least 20% of voters registered in the Voters List speak official language different from Macedonian shall be printed in Macedonian language and its Cyrillic alphabet and in the official language and the alphabet used by at least 20% of the voters registered in the Voters List for that electoral district.


(7) The authorised representatives of the list submitters, whose objections are being considered, have the right to be present during the work and the decision making of the State Election Commission.