Statutes
Electoral regulation
APLM – Portuguese Association of Marine Waste
Regulation of the electoral process of the Board of the General Assembly, the Management and the Supervisory Board
Article 1
Elections for the governing bodies of APLM obey the principles of freedom to present lists and pluralism of opinion.
The election of the Board of the General Assembly, the Management and the Supervisory Board is made at the ordinary General Assembly, every three years, in the first quarter of each calendar year (No. 1 of Article 7 and No. 1 of Article 11 of the Bylaws ).
The election is made by secret ballot, by voting on specific lists for each of the bodies, considering that the most voted list is elected.
The right to vote can be exercised in person or by correspondence.
None of the members can be represented in more than one elective body.
Article 2
The oversight of the electoral process is the responsibility of the Bureau of the Electoral General Assembly and of a commission set up for that purpose.
All effective members (No. 2 of Art. 5 of the Statutes) for at least six months and who are in full enjoyment of their rights (No. 1 of Art. 8 of the Statutes) are electors.
Each member is entitled to 1 (one) vote.
The Board of Directors must deliver to the Board of the General Assembly, up to 3 (three) days before the date of the Electoral General Assembly, a document containing all the members covered by the conditions of point number 2 of this article.
Article 3
The convening of the General Electoral Assembly will be addressed to all members via email (e-mail), at least 15 days in advance.
The notice must include the day, the opening and closing hours of voting and the place where the General Electoral Assembly is to be held.
Article 4
Only effective members (No. 2 of Article 5 of the Statutes) in full enjoyment of their rights and with payment of dues updated up to 1 month before the date of elections.
Each member can only be a candidate for one of the governing bodies, but may, however, be part of more than one list of candidates for the same body.
The Board must deliver to the Board of the General Assembly a list of eligible members up to 1 month before the election date.
Article 5
1. The opening of the electoral process will take place between 80 and 60 days before election day and will be done through communication from the Board of the General Assembly sent to all APLM members.
Article 6
The lists of candidacies must contain the designation of the members to be elected and their respective positions, accompanied by individual or collective terms of acceptance of candidacies. These lists will be delivered to the Board of the General Meeting, which has a period of 7 days to assess situations of ineligibility.
Lists must include candidates for the following positions:
A president and two secretaries for the Board of the General Assembly (n.º 6 of Art. 8 of the Statutes)
A president, a vice-president, a secretary general and two members, one of whom will be the treasurer (n.º 2 of Art. 14º of the Statutes) for the Direction.
A president, a secretary and a rapporteur (No. 1 of Article 18 of the Statutes) for the Supervisory Board.
The presentation of the candidacy lists must be made up to 35 (thirty-five) days prior to the holding of the election.
On the lists, candidates will be identified by full name, membership number and address.
Lists for the Directorate will be accompanied by an application program.
If the Board of the General Meeting verifies the ineligibility of some of the candidates, it must notify the elements of the list in question to proceed with the respective replacement within a maximum period of 5 (five) days.
The lack of substitution foreseen in the previous point will imply the exclusion of the list in question by the Board of the General Assembly.
The Board of the General Assembly, in collaboration with the Board, will ensure the dissemination by the members of the candidacies and Action Programs received, right after the deadline for delivery of Lists and Action Programs.
If, at the end of the period established in no. 3, Article 6, no lists of candidacies have been presented to the President of the General Assembly, the national board shall draw up a list, to be presented within five days after the end of that period.
Article 7
The lists are of the same format, color and type of paper for all candidacies, and must contain the distribution of candidates by positions, which are identified by corporate body.
Each list must cover all headings and captions.
Each list is delivered and signed by all candidates as proof of candidacy acceptance and are only valid if accompanied by a candidate action program, which will be available for consultation through the General Assembly Bureau.
Article 8
All ballot papers will have the same dimensions and will be reproduced with identical presentation on paper of the same quality, containing all the accepted lists.
Ballot papers will be distributed at least 10 days in advance to all voters who vote by mail.
Ballot papers will also be provided at the polling station on election day.
The ballot papers contain the lists indicated in alphabetical order, followed by a square in front to mark with a cross.
Article 9
The member interested in voting by correspondence will have to sign a form that will be sent to him along with the ballot, which will indicate his name and member number.
The envelope and the form referred to in paragraph 1 of this article must be placed in an envelope addressed to the Board of the General Meeting of APLM and sent by mail or delivered to the bearer.
The envelopes sent by mail or delivered to the bearer must remain in the possession of the Board of the General Meeting until the opening of voting.
Once the envelopes have been received, the Bureau will verify that the voting member is effective and is in full use of his rights.
Voting is always direct and secret, being carried out in the respective bulletin, which will be folded into four and enclosed in a sealed envelope, without any inscription on the outside.
At the election, voting members must identify themselves before the Board of the General Assembly.
Article 10
Once the voting is closed, the president of the polling station will have the voters counted in the order made in the electoral roll and, once that count is complete, the ballot box is opened, in order to check the number of ballot papers present.
In case of divergence between the number of voters calculated under the terms of number 1 of this article and that of the counted ballots, the second of these numbers shall prevail for the purposes of counting.
The votes will be distributed for counting by categories (blanks, nulls and specific lists) in order to facilitate counting.
The result of the voter tabulation will be recorded in the minutes that will be signed by all members of the board of the respective electoral assembly, which will be sent within 48 hours, accompanied by the respective ballot papers, to the chairman of the board of the general assembly so that it is the final tabulation is carried out, considering that the list on which the highest number of votes has fallen has been elected.
In the event of a tie between the most voted lists, the election will be repeated 8 days later, only with the participation of these lists, the one that obtains the most votes being elected.
The minutes prepared by the board of the general meeting must include, in addition to the final tabulation of the elections, the following elements:
a) The names of the members of the board and representatives of the candidacy lists;
b) The opening, closing time and places of voting;
c) The deliberations taken by the board;
d) The number of members with voting rights and those who exercised it;
e) The number of members who voted by mail;
f) The number of votes obtained for each list;
g) The number of blank and invalid votes;
h) Any complaints and protests;
i) The signatures of all the members of the respective table.
7. After the final count by the board of the general assembly, the voting results will be posted within a maximum period of 24 hours at the headquarters and in the delegations, such document containing the signature of the chairman of the board of the General Assembly.
Article 11
The Board of the General Assembly may add effective members to facilitate the conduct of the election, and at all stages of this act, at least one of the elements of the Board must always be present.
If lists of candidates are not presented by the end of the period established for another three-year period, maximum election limit, the governing bodies in office will remain in office for reappointment.
The Board of the General Assembly shall provide each candidate list with the possibility of appointing a representative to oversee the voting and scrutiny operations.
Article 12
An appeal may be filed based on irregularities verified in the electoral process, which must be presented to the Chairman of the Board of the General Assembly within a maximum period of 3 (three) days after the election.
Once the appeal is received, the electoral commission meets within 5 days of its reception.
The electoral commission rejects the appeal if it does not provide evidence of the facts or if the evidence is manifestly insufficient.
In case the appeal presented is granted, an extraordinary general assembly must be called, which decides, by an absolute majority of the votes of the members present, as the last instance.
If the assembly judges the appeal to be valid, the election is repeated within a maximum period of 30 days from the decision of the assembly, with the same lists competing with the changes that have to be introduced by virtue of the decision issued on the appeal.
The appeal has suspensive effect on the results of the election.
Article 13
The investiture of the elected members will take place before the Board of the General Assembly up to seven days after the knowledge of the results of the election or the decision on any appeals.
Until the new corporate bodies take office, the outgoing corporate bodies will remain in office.
Article 14
Any amendment to these electoral regulations must be voted on at the General Assembly.
These Electoral Regulations come into force on the day following their approval.