Establishment of Ballot Counting Teams (BCTs)

(word amended in point 1 by Law No.74/2012, dated 19 July 2012)

1. For the purpose of counting the votes at the EAZ level, Ballot Counting Teams shall be established by CEAZ decision 10 days prior to the election date. There shall be two counting teams for each counting table, in accordance with point 2 of Article 94 of this Code. Members of Ballot Counting Teams must meet the criteria provided for in Articles 30 and 31 of this Code. Proposals for the appointment of members must be submitted to the CEAZ at least 12 days prior to the election date.

2. Ballot Counting Teams shall be composed of four members and, in any case, one member shall be appointed by proposal of the party to which the chair of the CEAZ belongs, one member by the proposal of the political party to which the deputy chair belongs, whereas the third member shall be proposed by the parties of the governing majority and the fourth member shall be appointed by the proposal of the opposition parties that have the right to propose members of the BCTs for the respective EAZs, in accordance with the procedure stipulated in Article 96 of this Code.

In its decision to appoint the Ballot Counting Team, the CEAZ shall appoint one of the members as first counter and one member as the secretary. In half of the Ballot Counting Teams, the first counter shall be proposed by the largest party of the majority and, in the other half, by the largest party of the opposition. The secretary of the Ballot Counting Team shall belong to the political party opposite to the party that proposes the first counter. The CEC shall determine by instruction the procedure for drawing the lots.

3. In the event an electoral subject does not submit its proposals within the deadline specified in point 1 of this Article, the CEAZ shall determine the replacement members by lot among the members of the VCCs who belong to the same electoral subject at the electoral zone level. In the event it is not possible to complete the number of Ballot Counting Team members, it shall function with no fewer than two members.

4. A counting team shall count not fewer than 5 voting centres and not more than 10 voting centres. At the end of this process, the counting team shall be replaced by the other counting team, in accordance with point 1 of this Article.

5. The CEC shall determine by normative act the criteria on the number of counting teams for each ballot counting centre, organisation, the division of duties among members of the counting team, and the rules on the order of actions.