Procedure for Receiving and Considering of Documents of Polling station commissions by District Election Commission
1. From the moment of the end of voting, a district election commission shall commence its meeting that shall not be interrupted until voting results in a territorial election district are established. Members of a district election commission can not be involved in other activities during this time besides participation in the meeting of the election commission.
2. A district election commission shall process the information mentioned under paragraph 13, Article 83 of this Law and pass the information on the territorial election district to the Central Election Commission with the help of the information and analytical system and telegraph (teletype) no later than at 10 p.m. on Election Day. The Central Election Commission shall publish the aforementioned information in the printed mass media on the following day after their receipt and promptly publish it on the official web site of the Central Election Commission.
3. Meeting of a district election commission mentioned under paragraph 1 of this Article shall be reflected in the protocol of the uninterrupted meeting signed by a commission head or a commission member who headed the meeting, as well as by a commission secretary or a commission member who acted as a secretary at the meeting. The protocol shall be appended with dissenting opinions (if available) of commission members who took part in the meeting and do not agree with the decision passed by a commission.
4. At the meeting of a district election commission mentioned under paragraph 1 of this Article, the head of the district election commission receives sealed packages with protocols of polling station commissions, unseals them and promulgates the contents of the protocols of polling station commissions on counting of votes at corresponding polling stations. He/she also receives sealed packages with other election documents stipulated by paragraph 11, Article 89 of this Law. The time of receipt by a district election commission of the protocol of a polling station commission on counting of votes at the polling station, a list of received election documents and information from the protocol on counting of votes at the polling station shall be entered into the protocol of the meeting of a district election commission.
5. When a district election commission receives documents of a polling station commission, it shall check the completeness of the documents and integrity of the packaging of all packages with election documents. Each member of the commission shall have the right to examine each packet with documents. In the event that the election documents are not complete or the packaging of all packages is not intact, the package with the protocol on counting of votes at a polling station shall be opened and the information from the protocol shall be promulgated. Based on the results of consideration of documents of a polling station commission and complaints concerning violations of the requirements of this Law during the voting and counting of votes at a polling station, as well as during the transportation of election documents to a district election commission that arrived to the district election commission by the time of reception of documents of a polling station commission, the district election commission adopts one of the following decisions:
1) accept the election documents of the polling station commission and count the information form the protocol on counting of votes at a polling station when establishing voting results within the territorial election district;
2) reject the election documents of the polling station commission and obligate the polling station commission to correct the faults;
3) conduct repeat counting of votes at the polling station pursuant to the procedure stipulated by this Law.
6. The decision, foreseen in paragraph 5 of this Article, shall be adopted by voting of all members of a district election commission by the majority of the total composition of the commission and recorded in the protocol of the meeting of the district election commission.
7. The protocol of a polling station commission on counting of votes at the polling station is considered by a district election commission immediately after its promulgation. In the event that corrections, mistakes, or inaccuracies are found in the protocol of a polling station commission on counting of votes at the polling station, a district election commission may pass a decision obliging a polling station commission to amend the established results of the voting at the polling station pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 7, Article 89 of this Law, which shall be reflected in the protocol of the district election commission. During the period of consideration of this issue by a polling station commission, the copies of the protocol on counting of votes at the polling station and the attached documents submitted to the district election commission shall be kept by the district election commission.
8. A polling station commission shall consider amendments to the protocol without re-counting ballot papers within the period determined by a district election commission. The protocol marked “Amended” shall be transported to a district election commission pursuant to the procedure set forth in Article 91 of this Law. The time of receipt of the protocol marked “Amended” of a polling station commission by a district election commission and the information from the protocol shall be entered into the protocol of a district election commission’s meeting.
9. If there are complaints confirmed by the duly submitted acts drawn up by the candidates for deputies, authorized representatives of parties (blocs), official observers and voters on violation of the requirements of this Law during voting and/or counting of votes at a polling station that call in question results of counting of votes at this polling station, and if there is a act or a written complaint by individuals mentioned under paragraph 1, Article 91 of this Law on violation of this Law during transportation of the protocol on counting of votes at a polling station to a district election commission and other documents, a district election commission may pass a decision on re-counting of votes at a polling station.
10. In the event that it is impossible to eliminate discrepancies in the protocol of a polling station commission without re-counting the ballot papers, and in the event that there are obvious signs of unpacking the packages with the documents of a polling station commission, a district election commission must pass a decision on re-counting votes at this polling station.
11. The protocols on voting results at a polling station and sealed packages with other election documents of a polling station commission before re-counting of votes at a polling station by a district election commission shall be kept in premises where the meeting of a district election commission takes place.
12. Re-counting of votes at a polling station shall be done by a district election commission under mandatory participation of members of a polling station commission who shall transfer the election documentation after consideration and passage of protocols and other documents of the rest of polling station commissions. Re-counting of votes at a polling station by a district election commission may be attended by all members of this polling station commission as well as the candidates for deputies, authorized representatives of parties (blocs) and official observers.
13. A district election commission shall draw up a protocol on re-counting of votes at a corresponding polling station in accordance with the form established by the Central Election Commission. The protocol shall contain information, foreseen in paragraph 2 (with the exception of clause 12) of Article 89 of this Law.
14. A district election commission shall draw up the protocol on re-counting votes at a respective polling station in the number of copies, which exceeds by four the number of members of a district election commission. The copies of the protocol shall be numbered and have equal legal force. All copies of the protocol shall be signed by the present members of a district election commission and members of the polling station commission who participated in re-counting of votes at the corresponding polling station, and certified with the stamp of the district election commission. Information from the protocol shall be promulgated in the process of its compilation in order stipulated by Articles 86-88 of this Law. Candidates for deputies, authorized representatives of parties (blocs) and official observers who were present during re-counting of votes shall have the right to sign the first and the second copies of the protocol.
15. A district election commission may pass a decision on recognizing the voting at a polling station invalid in the following cases:
1) in the event of establishing during re-counting of votes at the respective polling station the circumstances mentioned under paragraph 1, Article 90 of this Law;
2) in the event of establishing instances of deliberate obstruction for fulfillment of their duties for the election commission members or realization by official observers and mass media representatives of their right to be present during the voting at a polling station in the premises where the voting is conducted, at the meeting on counting of votes of an election commission, during tabulation of voting results at a polling station, as well as illegitimate non-admission of the aforementioned individuals in premises for voting.
16. In the event that voting at a polling station is recognized invalid during re-counting of votes, the protocol of a district election commission on re-counting of votes at this polling station shall be drawn up pursuant to the procedure set forth in paragraphs 13 and 14 of this Article and contain only information mentioned under clauses 1-11, 14, and 18-20 of paragraph 2 of Article 89 of this Law. All other lines of the protocol shall be crossed.
17. The first copy of the protocol of a district election commission on re-counting of votes at a polling station together with the respective protocol of a polling station commission on counting of at a polling station, decision of a district election commission on recognizing the voting at this polling station invalid shall be appended respectively to the protocol of a district election commission on voting results at the respective territorial election district. The second copy of the protocol of a district election commission on re-counting of votes at a polling station shall be preserved by the secretary of a district election commission; the third copy shall be transferred to the respective polling station commission; the fourth copy shall be immediately posted in premises of a district election commission for public information. Other copies of the protocol shall be given out to members of a district election commission – one for each member.
