Each newly elected municipal council shall elect, when first convened, a presiding election board for a four-year term. Presiding election boards must at all times be prepared to present themselves without prior notice at meetings on election day to take decisions and rule on election issues if necessary.
In municipalities divided into several polling sections, as many subordinate election boards shall be elected as there are polling sections. Where more than one polling section is served by a single polling station, a district election board shall be elected to supervise election activities at the polling station on behalf of the presiding election board.
Subordinate and district election boards may be elected at a later date than that provided for in the first paragraph.
Each election board shall be comprised of three regular members and three alternates, all of whom must be entitled to vote in the municipality. An election board shall choose its own chairman and secretary from among its members.
In carrying out their duties, election boards make decisions independent of the authority of the municipal council.
In a municipality which is not divided into a number of polling sections a single election board shall serve as the presiding and subordinate election board.
A municipal council may decide that the same election board shall direct municipal and Alþingi (national parliamentary) elections.
[A presiding election board must, with sufficient notice prior to elections, advertise its seat, where it can receive lists of candidates and where it will be present while the elections take place.]1)
