Home > 2.1.3 Jurisdictions > UKRAINE - Law on Elections of People's Deputies
 
 
 
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Article 25
 

Organization of Work of the Election Commissions

 

1. Sessions are the principal form of activity of an election commission. Sessions shall be convened by the chairman of the commission, in case of his/her absence – by the deputy chairman of the commission, and in case of the absence of the chairman and his/her deputy – by the secretary of the commission.

 

2. If necessary, a session of the election commission may be convened based on the decision taken by the higher election commission.

 

3. The first session of the election commission shall be convened no later than on the third working day after the date of its formation, and the subsequent ones shall be convened as the case may require; in case of formation of the election commission concurrently with the creation of the polling station, in accordance with Paragraph 7 of Article 17 hereof the first session of the commission shall be convened no later than the next working day following the date of its formation.

 

4. A session of the election commission shall be valid provided attending it are not less than two-thirds of the commission members.

 

5. A session of the election commission shall be convened with the mandatory notification of all members of the commission about the time and the place of holding the session and its agenda.

 

6. The members of the election commission shall receive the draft decisions of the commission and the required materials, as a rule, no later than one day before the date of holding the session of the commission.

 

7. The chairman of the commission or his/her deputy shall preside over the sessions of the commission; should they be unable to fulfil this function, the commission shall appoint the presiding officer of the session from among its members.

 

8. At the request of one-third of the members of the commission as well as following the decision passed by a higher election commission, the given election commission shall be obliged to consider, at its session, the issues falling within its competence within the period of three days but no later than on the day of elections, while on the day of elections it shall consider such issues without delay (except for the polling station election commission). The polling station election commission shall be obliged to consider, at its session, the issues falling within its competence on the day of elections – at the request of the above members of the commission, or, following the decision of the higher election commission passed during the day of elections – without delay upon completion of the voting.

 

9. The right to be present at the sessions of the election commission, at the polling station on the day of elections and on the voting premises, without the invitations issued by the commission, shall be granted only to the candidates for deputy, their electioneering agents, authorized persons, official observers from the political parties (blocs of parties) – subjects of the electoral process – of the candidate for deputy registered in the respective single-mandate constituency (all in all, not more than two persons from one party/block of parties of the candidate for deputy), as well as the official observers from foreign countries and international organizations, and representatives of the mass media (not more than two persons from one mass medium).

 

10. The election commission may make a motivated decision on denying the right to be present at its session to the persons described in Paragraph 9 of this Article, if they interfere with holding of this session. Such decision shall be passed by two-thirds of the members of the commission. The commission may not deny this right to the above persons for taking actions aimed at exercising their rights stipulated by this Law.

 

11. At the session of the election commission, minutes shall be taken, which shall be signed by the person presiding over the session and the secretary of the commission (or acting secretary who is appointed during the session).

 

12. Decisions of the election commission shall be passed through open vote, by a majority of votes of the members of the commission, except for the cases provided for by this Law. In case of equal number of votes among the members of the election commission who participated in voting, the decisive vote shall belong to the person who presided over the session.

 

13. The decision of the election commission on the issue under consideration shall be documented in the form of a resolution that must contain the following information: title of the commission; title of the decision; date and place of decision-making and serial number of the decision; motivational part with reference to the circumstances that called forth consideration of the issue at the session of the commission; reference to the specific provisions of the regulatory enactment or decisions of the higher election commission or court judgments; resolution part. The decision shall be signed by the person presiding over the session.

 

14. A member of the election commission who takes part in its session and disagrees with the decision made by the commission, shall have the right to express his/her dissenting opinion in writing, and this document shall be attached to the respective minutes of the session of the election commission.

 

15. The decisions of the election commission taken within its authority shall be binding on all subjects and other participants of the electoral process. No one shall have the right to interfere in the activities of the election commissions, except for the cases stipulated by the law.

 

16. The decisions of the election commission which are in conflict with the legislation of Ukraine or which were passed by the commission with the excess of its powers may be cancelled by the higher election commission or by the court. In this case, the higher election commission shall have the right to take a decision to the point of the matter.

 

17. Appeals, applications and complaints received by the election commission shall be registered in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Election Commission.

 

18. To ensure organizational, legal and technical support for exercising its authority provided for by this Law, the election commission may enlist the services of the appropriate specialists and technical assistants.