Ex post examination of ballot papers and election materials

(added by Law No. 101/2020, dated 23 July 2020)

1. The ex post examination of the ballot papers and election material shall be carried out to verify the regularity and accuracy of the activity of the election administration in the course of process administration and ballot evaluation and counting. During the examination, the CEC staff assigned with the examination shall follow the same procedure followed by the Counting Teams when evaluating and counting ballots.

2. Examination shall be allowed only after the final result has been announced, the appeals procedures concluded, and the election completed. This rule shall not apply to examinations in the course of appeal processes as a means of securing evidence.

3. Examination shall be done by the CEC, based on random selection, or upon a request of the interested parties, with an indication [what to examine]. As a rule, ex officio examination shall extend to no more than 10% of the voting centres. Regardless of who initiates the examination, the process shall be conducted by the CEC staff at a public hearing, in which the petitioner/applicant and representatives of parliamentary parties at the CEC shall be invited to participate. The process shall be video-recorded and the video-recording shall be stored in the CEC archive.

4. Pursuant to this Article, the CEC shall verify based on the dactiloscopic data collected by the electronic identification devices whether there are any multiple voters and [if any] shall prepare the criminal referal material for the Prosecutor’s Office.

5. When examination takes place at the request of interested parties, the latter shall cover the administrative costs of the process. Examination of ballot papers or election material previously examined, ex officio or at the request of interested parties, shall not be allowed. If an interested party requests the examination of ballot papers or election material previously examined, such request shall be rejected and the interested party shall be forthwith provided with the video-recording of the previous examination.

6. Fees for the administrative service of examination and the price of videorecordings shall be set by the Regulator in a normative act.

7. The examination procedure shall be similar to the procedure followed by the election administration during election activities.

8. In case the examination of the ballot papers or the election materials reveals irregularities or inaccuracies, for which responsibility is attributed to certain election officials, the CEC is obliged to initiate disciplinary proceedings and file a criminal report against the relevant officials.