Composition and functioning of CEC

(amended by Law No. 101/2020, dated 23 July 2020; words deleted in the third sentence of point 4; words deleted in the third sentence of point 5 by Law No. 118/2020, dated 5 October 2020)

1. The Central Election Commission shall be the institution responsible for the organisation and management of elections and referendums, steering and supervising the activity of the election administration, monitoring the activity of electoral subjects, state bodies and institutions, and media concerning the elections, and administratively settling requests or complaints related to the electoral process.

2. CEC steering bodies shall consist of:

a) State Election Commissioner;

b) Regulatory Commission; and

c) Complaints and Sanctions Commission.

3. The State Election Commissioner (Commissioner) shall be a monocratic body that exercises executive competencies, steers the CEC administration, and represents the CEC in relations with third parties.

4. The Regulatory Commission (the Regulator) shall be the body competent for the approval of acts of a normative nature pertaining to the area of elections and of setting election rules. The Regulator shall operate part-time and shall conduct its activity in open public meetings convened by the Commissioner. In the event the Commissioner does not engage the Regulator or the CSC for matters that fall under their competency, the bodies shall self-convene by request of each member. For their participation in meetings, members of the Regulator shall receive remuneration equal to 50% of the Commissioner’s monthly salary, but not more than 80% of the annual salary of the latter.

5. The Complaints and Sanctions Commission (CSC) shall be the competent body to examine administrative complaints and impose sanctions for violations of the electoral law. The CSC shall operate part-time and shall exercise its activity in public administrative examination hearings convened by the Commissioner, with the participation of interested parties. In the event the Commissioner does not engage the CSC for matters that fall under their competency, the bodies shall self-convene by request of each member. For their activity during the period that starts 48 hours after the decreeing of the general elections for the Assembly, elections for local government bodies, or partial elections, until the completion of the administrative examination of electoral complaints or the expiry of timeframes for election complaints, CSC members shall receive remuneration equal to the sum of five monthly salaries of the Commissioner. For activities conducted outside this period, CSC members shall receive remuneration equal to 50 percent of the monthly salary of the Commissioner.

6. Members of the Regulator and of CSC may not simultaneously exercise other duties in bodies, institutions, or entities that are part of the executive power.

7. The activity of the CEC, steering bodies, and of the administration shall be guided, as applicable, by this law and its relevant secondary legislation, as well as by law No. 44/2015 “Code of Administrative Procedure of the Republic of Albania”.