Powers of the Commission

(1) The regional election commission shall:

1. implement the activities and see to the application of this Code and the legal regulations thereto related;
2. exercise control on the activity of the section election commissions within the territory of the region or of the borough according to the administrative division of Bulgaria of the last elections for MPs for the National Assembly;
3. conduct a training of the members of the section election commissions in the region (borough), jointly with the training unit under Art. 56, Para. 1;
4. appoint the section election commissions in the respective region (borough) in Bulgaria and endorse the lists of alternate members;
5. dismiss members of the section election commissions in the respective region (borough) in Bulgaria in the cases of violations of this Code, of the decisions of the Central Election Commission and of the region election commission, as well as upon occurrence of any circumstance covered under Art. 51, Para. 2;
6. see to the timely and correct establishment of polling stations in the region (borough) and generate and endorse their uniform numbers;
7. register and make public the nomination committees for participation in elections of MPs, issue certificates thereto and keep a public register thereof;
8. register and make public the candidate lists of the political parties, the coalitions of political parties and the nomination committees upon elections of MPs and keep a public register;
9. strike the registration where it is established that the candidate for an MP fails to meet the requirements under Art. 65, Para. 1 of the Constitution, as well as in the cases referred to in Art. 258, Para.5;
10. strike the registration when the independent candidate is not supported by the needed number of voters according to Art. 257, Para. 1;
11. strike the registration of a nomination committee in the cases as referred to in p. 10;
12. make public the numbers in the ballot paper of the independent candidates upon elections of MPs not later than 31 days in advance of election day;
13. exercise control on the timely announcing of the electoral lists, for the delivery and storage of the ballot papers and on the issue of Non-Resident Voting Certificates;
14. see to provision of conditions for voting to persons with disabilities as referred to in Sections VIII and IX of Chapter Fourteen;
15. register until the election day the election agents of the candidate lists and issue certificates thereto;
16. keep a public register of the election agents by candidate lists upon elections of MPs, of President and Vice President of the Republic and of Members of the European Parliament for the Republic of Bulgaria, which shall publish on the Internet site thereof;
17. control the handling of the election campaign by the media service providers within a regional and local range, pronounce on complaints and signals for violations of the election campaign within 24 hours after receipt thereof;
18. jointly with the Municipal administration supply the section election commissions with ballot-boxes, voting ballot papers, electoral lists, seals, blank forms of tally sheets, lists, abstracts and drafts and control the safekeeping, distribution among polling stations and transportation thereof;
19. exercise control as to fulfilment of the obligation referred to in Art. 62, Para. 3;
20. examine all complaints and signals for breaches in the election process in conformity with its powers, including against decisions and actions of section election commissions and pronounce by decision within one hour after receipt of the complaint or the signal and before the closing of the polls;
21. establish and maintain a public register of complaints and signals submitted to the commission and the decisions thereon.
22. determine and announce the voting results in the region (borough) within 48 hours after the completion of the voting and prepare a tally sheet;
23. within the deadline as referred to in p. 22 scan and transmit to the Central Election Commission its tally sheet with the voting data in the region (borough) and publish it on the Internet site thereof;
24. make public the independent candidates in elections for MPs and issue certificates thereto;
25. provide against signature of the members of the commission, the candidates, the election agents, the representatives of the political parties, the coalitions of political parties and the nomination committees and the observers a photocopy of the signed abstract of the tally sheet with the voting results in the region (borough), sealed each page with the seal of the commission and signed by the chairperson, the deputy chairperson and the secretary;
26. deliver to the Central Election Commission the copy of the tally sheet of the regional election commission, the copies of the tally sheets of the section election commissions destined for the Central Election Commission, the receipts on the computer processing of the tally sheets of the section
election commissions, a copy of the computer print-out of the data on the tally sheet and the decision of the regional election commission provided by the computation centre, and two machine-readable data mediums storing the numerical data generated by the processing of the tally sheets of the section election commissions, as well as the machine voting recording devices;
27. deliver the rest of the papers and materials to the regional administration with the exception of those destined for the Central Election Commission within seven days after the declaration of the election results;
28. scan the tally sheets of the section election commissions not later than 48 hours as of the end of the election day and transmit thereof to the Central Election Commission;
29. exercise any other powers as provided for by the Code.

(2). The regional election commission shall make public the decisions thereof without delay by means of displaying the said decisions in a generally accessible place in the building where the said commission is housed and by means of publishing on the Internet site thereof. The place for making the decisions public shall be determined by decision of the commission forthwith after the appointment thereof and shall be arranged in a manner indicating the assigned use thereof. The copies of the decisions which are made public shall be marked with the date and hour of the display thereof in the generally accessible place. The copies of the decisions made public shall be removed not earlier than three days after the display thereof in the generally accessible place and shall be kept in the archives of the commission.