Boards of officers of polling stations and sections

1 - In each polling station or section a board of officers shall be formed to arrange and direct the electoral operations.
2 - The board shall comprise a presiding officer, his alternate, and three other officers, who shall be a secretary and two scrutineers.
3 - Electors who cannot read and write Portuguese may not be appointed members of a board of officers and, save in the cases provided for in Article 47(3), members must be part of the electoral station to whose board of officers they are appointed.
4 - Save for reasons of force majeure or just cause, performance of the functions of member of the board of officers of a polling station or section is compulsory.
5 - The following causes justify disqualification:
a) Age over sixty-five years;
b) Illness or physical impossibility, as confirmed by the municipal health officer;
c) Change of residence to the area of another municipality, as confirmed by the parish council of the new residence;
d) Absence abroad, as duly confirmed;
e) Exercise of a professional activity that cannot be delayed, as duly confirmed by a hierarchical superior.
6 - Whenever the elector is able to do so, he shall invoke the cause that justifies the disqualification to the mayor at least three days before the election.
7 - In the case provided for in the previous paragraph the mayor shall immediately substitute the elector by appointing another elector who belongs to the polling station.