Early Termination of Office of an Election Commission or of a Member of an Election Commission

1. The office of all members of a district or precinct election commission may be terminated before the expiration of their ordinary term by a decision of the higher-level commission that established it, by a decision of the commission itself, or by a judgment of a court in cases of systematic violation or one-time gross violation by the commission of the Constitution of Ukraine, this Code, or other Laws of Ukraine, failure to comply with the decision of the higher-level election commission.

2. Early termination of office of all members of an election commission shall not be considered to be termination of the commission.

3. The office of an individual member of a district or precinct election commission shall be terminated at the same time with the termination of office of a respective election commission.

The office of an individual member of a district or precinct election commission may be terminated before the expiration of its ordinary term by a decision of the higher-level commission on the grounds of:

1) a statement of resignation of the member of the commission. Such a statement shall be submitted to the entity nominating the member to the election commission to be handed over to the respective election commission, or for filing of a submission seeking replacement of a member of the election commission;

2) the filing of a submission seeking replacement of a member of the election commission by the entity nominating the member to the election commission;

3) termination of his or her Ukrainian citizenship;

4) his or her departure for the period up to the day of voting inclusive abroad or from the country in the territory of which an out-of-country election precinct was established, which results in impossibility to perform the duties of member of a commission;

5) his or her registration as a candidate for President of Ukraine, as well as a deputy candidate to the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a deputy candidate to a local council or a candidate for a village, settlement or city mayor, if the aforementioned election is conducted simultaneously with the election MPs of Ukraine;

6) his or her registration as a party’s representative to the Central Election Commission, an official observer, a party’s authorized person, a proxy of a deputy candidate to the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as well as a proxy of a deputy candidate to a local council or a candidate for a village, settlement or city mayor and a, a representative or an authorized person of a local party organization, an authorized person of a referendum subject in the all-Ukrainian or local referendum, a representative of the initiative group to the Central Election Commission, if the election process of such election or referendum is conducted simultaneously with the election of MPs;

7) his or her appointment to another election commission responsible for preparation and conduct of the election of MPs or the election of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, deputies of local councils, or village, settlement or city mayors, if the election process of such election is conducted simultaneously with the election of MPs;

8) his or her refusal to take the oath of a commission member;

9) violation of the oath of a commission member in the form of a systematic failure to perform his or her duties ascertained by at least two decisions thereon adopted by the election commission of which he or she is a member;

10) systematic violation or one-time gross violation by him or her of the Laws of Ukraine on elections ascertained by a court judgment or by a decision of the higher-level election commission; his or her failure to attend two or more meetings of an election commission with no good reason or failure to arrive at the meeting of an election commission on the day of voting;

11) if a judgment of a court comes into legal force, whereby he or she was found guilty of committing a grave or especially grave crime or a crime against citizens’ electoral rights, or a corruption crime;

12) discovery of the fact that shall deprive a person of the right to be a member of an election commission;

13) his or her being declared incapacitated or a missing person;

14) his or her death, or his or her being declared dead.

The submission for replacement of a member of the election commission shall be filed to the respective election commission, while signed by the persons specified in Part four of Article 140, Part six of Article 141, Part four of Article 142 of this Code, and affixed with the seal of nominating entity, on paper and in electronically, in the form approved by the Central Election Commission. The documents provided for in Part six of Article 140, Part seven of Article 141, Part six of Article 142 of this Code, respectively, shall be attached to the submission.

The aforementioned submission shall be considered within five days, but not later than on the last day before the voting day.

The submission to replace a member of the election commission may be filed by means of electronic services in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Election Commission.

4. Should any of the grounds provided for by clauses 1 - 7, 9 - 14 of Part three of this Article appear, the office of the member of an election commission shall be terminated from the moment the election commission that established it adopts a decision on early termination of his or her office, and as regards the grounds provided in clause 8 of Part three of this Article, from the moment of a person’s refusal to sign the text of an oath at the election commission’s meeting, or in the event of his or her failure to attend two first meetings of an election commission, which he or she has been included therein and which he or she has been duly notified of.

The Central Election Commission or the respective district election commission shall be immediately notified of the early termination of powers of a commission member due to the refusal to take the oath of office, in order to decide on changes in the composition of the relevant election commission.

A person who has filed an application seeking early termination of his or her office shall continue to act as the election commission’s head, deputy head, secretary, or member up to the point when the commission that established the respective commission takes a decision on early termination of his or her office.

5. An election commission that adopts a decision on early termination of the office of all the members of an election commission shall no later than on the following day notify the entity that nominated the person(s) to the election commission of the termination.

Such entities may, no later than the next day after the receipt of this notification, file a submission with new nominees to the respective election commission.

If the submission of nominees to an election commission fails to be filed within the time period established by this Part, or if the number of persons nominated to an election commission is less than the minimum number established by Part one of Article 140, Parts two and three of Article 141 of this Code, a respective election commission shall form this election commission, upon a proposal by the head of the election commission, according to the proposals from the members of this commission, the number of its members being in compliance with the minimum number (being no less than the minimum required), necessarily having regard to the nominees proposed by the nominating entities, except for those that shall be rejected on the grounds established by this Code.

In the case of early termination of office of a member of the election commission on the grounds provided for by clauses 8,10 of Part three of this Article, or on the ground of early termination of office of all members of the election commission, his or her candidacy may not be re-included in the election commission and shall be rejected.

A decision on early termination of office of a member of an election commission due to his or her replacement shall be made simultaneously with a decision on inclusion in the respective election commission of a replacement member representing the same nominating entity, simultaneously appointing the replacement member to a respective position in the election commission held by the commission member, whose powers were terminated early.

In the event of early termination of office of all the members of an election commission, or an individual member thereof, a respective election commission shall, no later than the third day of the day of the termination of office of all the members of an election commission (an individual member thereof), but no later than the last day prior to the day of voting, shall approve a new composition of the election commission, or shall make a decision to include a replacement member to the respective election commission (in case if the respective submission has been filed, in accordance with the procedure specified by this Part) in accordance with the procedure established by this Code.

In the case of early termination of office of a member of a precinct election commission at an out-of-country election precinct, should no submission be received, as provided for in Part two of Article 140 of this Code, another person shall be included in the election commission only if the number of members of the precinct election commission became less than the minimum number required.

6. Should a decision on early termination of office of a member of an election commission be adopted on the day preceding the day of voting, such decision shall be adopted simultaneously with the decision appointing a replacement member of the respective election commission nominated by the same entity.

7. If the head, deputy head, or the secretary of an election commission regularly fails to perform his or her duties, the respective district election commission or precinct election commission shall be entitled to make a submission to the election commission that established it with a reasoned request that he or she be replaced, provided that such submission is supported by at least two-thirds of all the members of the commission. The aforementioned submission shall be signed by the head, deputy head, or the person presiding at the respective meeting of the election commission and shall be affixed with the seal of this commission. The submission shall be appended with at least two decisions of the election commission on the failure of the head, deputy head or the secretary of the election commission to perform their duties, as well as the excerpt from the minutes of the decision of the election commission which considered an issue about filing such a submission.

The head, deputy head, or the secretary of the election commission may personally submit a statement on resignation (without terminating the membership in the commission) to the election commission that established it.

The aforementioned submission or statement shall be subject to mandatory consideration within three days, but no later than the last day prior to the day of voting. A decision replacing the head, deputy head, or the secretary of an election commission shall not necessarily result in termination of his or her office as a member of the election commission.

8. In case of receipt of a submission to replace a member of the election commission who is acting head, deputy head, secretary of an election commission, , a decision to appoint to the respective election commission of a replacement member from the same nominating entity shall be made, simultaneously appointing this member to a respective position in the election commission held by the commission member, whose powers were terminated early.

In case of early termination of powers of the head, deputy head, secretary of the election commission on other grounds provided for in Part three of this Article, the election commission shall appoint another commission member to the respective position.

9. If there are grounds for early termination of the powers of an entire election commission, or an individual member of the election commission due to the signs that members (or an individual member) of this commission committed a crime or administrative offense, the respective election commission, while making a decision on termination, shall notify the law enforcement bodies to verify the grounds and respond according to the law.