The electoral offices of polling places are set up to organize and hold the elections by district electoral councils at least 25 days before the election day and consist of at least five and at most 11 members, with the number of members being odd. Three members of the electoral office of the polling place are proposed by local councils. The other members are suggested by parties and other sociopolitical organizations represented in Parliament, by one by each party or sociopolitical organization. If it is not enough, the remaining vacancies of member are filled by the district electoral council at the suggestion of the Central Election Commission, from the Register of Electoral Functionaries. The members of the electoral office cannot be local councilors and party members. Within two days of the constitution of the electoral office, a head, deputy head and secretary are chosen from among the office members.
The electoral office abroad is managed by a head named by the chief of the embassy or consular office or the personnel of other institutions of the diplomatic service. This consists of six-ten representatives of parties and sociopolitical organizations represented in Parliament, by one designated by each party or sociopolitical organization. The electoral office members are chosen the Chisinau district electoral council. When the number is insufficient, the remaining vacancies are filled by the Central Election Commission, from the Register of Electoral Functionaries, with persons who are not affiliated politically and with the consent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration.
The electoral offices for the voters from the Transition region are established according to the principles applying to the rest of Moldova. The body of the local public administration that can name members of the electoral office is the one from the head office of the electoral office opened for Transnistrian voters.
The office informs the public about the voting time and place. The office member cannot campaign in favor of persons who run for a public post; cannot become involved in political activities in support of electoral candidates; cannot become affiliated to any of these; cannot offer financial support or any other assistance to an electoral contender. During the electoral period, the meetings of electoral offices are convened at the request of at least 1/3 of the members. The decisions are adopted by open vote, by a majority of votes. The officer members who do not agree with the adopted decisions can state their opinion in written form.
At 7am on the election day, the office’s head, in the presence of at least half of the office members, examines the ballot boxes, seals them up, checks the presence of voter rolls, ballots and stamps and draws up a report in two copies, which is signed by all the present members of the office. A copy is put into the ballot box and then the office’s head declares the voting process open.
The office’s head monitors the events that take place during the voting and vote count processes. If the voter, for particular reasons, cannot come to the polling place, the electoral office assigns at least two members to travel to the voter’s place with a mobile ballot box, based on the voter’s written application. When the time allotted for voting expires, at 9pm, the head of the electoral office of the polling place announces the end of voting and orders to close the polling place. Before opening the ballot boxes, all the unused ballots are counted and annulled. Before counting the votes, the electoral office determines the number of voters to which ballots were issued, based on the number of voters on the electoral registers and additional lists. Afterward the office’s head, in the presence of members and persons authorized to attend the vote count, opens the ballot boxes and determines the contenders for whom the people voted.
The voting results are stipulated in a report that is signed by the head, deputy head, secretary and the other members of the electoral office. The report is written in several copies. One copy is kept at the office, another one is presented to the district electoral council, one is placed at the entrance to the polling place, while the other copies are handed over to representatives of electoral contenders and observers.
For the work done in the electoral period, including on the election day, the functionaries of the electoral offices are paid an allowance of 20% of the official average salary for the previous year from the funds allocated for elections.
The electoral offices stop work by the decision of the body that constituted them, immediately after the CEC makes public the final results. Usually, the offices stop work when they represent the necessary documents to the CEC and, if need be, to the court of law.
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The IPN division “Elections in plain words” is designed to explain notions, terms and practices related to the parliamentary elections based on the mixed electoral system and the consultative referendum that will take place on February 24, 2019.
