Libro Dos Título Tres. Comités cívicos electorales

Electoral civic committees are temporary political organizations that represent social sectors and currents of political opinion and thought that nominate candidates for popularly elected offices to integrate municipal corporations.

25-05-2016.

Electoral civic committees perform the function of representing currents of public opinion, in electoral processes corresponding to municipal governments.

Requirements for the formation of Electoral Civic Committees. For an Electoral Civic Committee to be formed and to function legally, the following is required:

a)To have, at the time of its formation, at least the following minimum number of affiliates:

1)In municipalities with up to 5,000 registered voters, one hundred affiliates.

2)In municipalities with between 5,001 and 10,000 registered voters, two hundred affiliates.

3)In municipalities with between 10,001 and 20,000 registered voters, four hundred affiliates.

4)In municipalities with between 20,001 and 50,000 registered voters, six hundred affiliates.

5)In municipalities with between 50,001 and 75,000 registered voters, one thousand affiliates.

6)In municipalities with between 75,001 and 100,000 registered voters, one thousand two hundred fifty affiliates.

7)In municipalities with more than 100,000 registered voters, one thousand five hundred affiliates.

For the calculation of registered voters, the electoral roll used in the last general election shall be taken as the basis.

b)To evidence its formation in a record signed by the number of affiliates required by law, which shall be presented before the departmental delegation or municipal subdelegation of the Registry of Citizens, as applicable;

c)To be registered in the corresponding delegation or subdelegation of the Registry of Citizens; and,

d)To register the members of its Board of Directors in the corresponding delegation or subdelegation of the Registry of Citizens.

The functions of each Electoral Civic Committee are limited to the municipality in which it has nominated candidates.

Every duly constituted Electoral Civic Committee registered in the Department of Political Organizations, in the departmental delegation or municipal subdelegation of the Register of Citizens, shall have legal personality for the purpose indicated in the preceding article.

Supplementary rules for their organization and operation. The rules governing the organization, financing, oversight and operation of political parties, as well as the sanctions regime, shall be applicable to electoral civic committees in the absence of express rules relating to the latter.”

on 25-05-2016.

The electoral civic committees enjoy the following rights:

a)To nominate candidates for membership in Municipal Corporations.

b)To oversee all activities of the electoral process in which they participate, through the agents they designate.

c)To report to the Inspector General any anomaly of which they have knowledge and to demand that any actions contrary to the norms and principles of electoral and political organizations legislation be investigated; and,

d)Such others as the law confers upon them.

The electoral civic committees have the following obligations:

a)To register with the Department of Political Organizations or with the respective delegation or subdelegation of the Register of Citizens, as applicable.

b)To register with the Department of Political Organizations or with the respective delegation or subdelegation of the Register of Citizens, the members of its Board of Directors and its General Secretary, President or its equivalent; and,

c)To comply with the other obligations imposed on them by the laws.

The formation of a Civic Electoral Committee shall be set forth in a record signed by the number of affiliates required by law, which shall be filed in the Department of Political Organizations, in the corresponding delegation or subdelegation of the Register of Citizens.

The constitutive record of an Electoral Civic Committee shall contain the following requirements:

a)Personal appearance of all affiliates required by law, of the members of the Board of Directors of the committee and of the candidates who are nominated, who shall be duly identified.

b)Composition of the Board of Directors of the committee, which shall be organized with at least fifteen titular members and three alternate members, electing from among the former, Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, Secretary of Records and Treasurer.

c)Name, symbol or emblem of the committee, which shall conform to what Article 66 of this law establishes.

d)Name and surnames of the candidates of the committee, specifying the offices for which they will be nominated and the order in which they will appear on the slate.

e)Acceptance of the nomination by the candidates; and,

f)Signature or fingerprint of the index finger or another in its absence of the persons appearing.

If all required documentation is submitted, in accordance with the law, the Department of Political Organizations, the departmental delegation or the municipal subdelegation of the Register of Citizens shall, on its own initiative:

a)Register the committee.

b)Register the members of its Board of Directors.

c)Register the proposed candidates.

d)Issue the certifications or certificates of the registrations; and,

e)Archive the file in the Department of Political Organizations, for which purpose it shall be forwarded by the delegations and subdelegations.

If the documentation submitted does not conform to the law, the head of the Department of Political Organizations, the departmental delegate or municipal subdelegate shall inform the interested parties thereof, in writing and in detail, at the same moment or within the time limit of forty-eight hours. Once the file has been corrected, it shall be sent by the fastest means to the Register of Citizens, so that within a time limit of twenty-four hours it resolves what is pertinent.

The formation and registration of a civic committee shall be carried out, at the latest, sixty days before the date set for the election. No civic committees may be formed before the call for elections.

The board of directors of the civic committee shall function as a collegiate body and shall be specifically in charge of:

a)Setting the general political line of the Civic Committee, in accordance with its constitutive act and declaration of principles, as well as indicating the pertinent measures to develop them;

b)Coordinating the activities of support groups;

c)Creating subcommittees, defining the powers corresponding to them and appointing their members;

d)Organizing and directing the activities of the civic committee;

e)Appointing the poll watchers and other representatives or delegates of the civic committee before the electoral bodies; and

f)Such other functions as assigned to it by the law or its constitutive act.

Legal representation of the committee corresponds to the Secretary General, President or equivalent. In his or her absence, it shall be exercised by the Deputy Secretary General, the Secretary of Records or the Treasurer, in that order.

Civic committees may be sanctioned by the Registry of Citizens, if they violate the legal norms governing their establishment and operation, with the sanctions set forth in Article 88 of this law.

Sanctions may be imposed on civic committees with a fine pursuant to the provisions of Article 90, subparagraphs b), c), e), and f) of this Law.

The Registry of Citizens shall decide the cancellation of an Electoral Civic Committee, applying the procedure for incidents established by the Law of the Judicial Branch. Against the decision rendered, the appeal established by this law shall lie, which must be filed within the third day after notification of the decision.

The electoral civic committees shall be automatically dissolved, without need for any declaration or decision, upon the award of offices in the election in which they participated becoming final.

Nevertheless, the liability of the officers of said committees for the funds they have received and administered shall subsist.