GENERAL RULES
Article 1 - Electoral College
The Electoral College is made up of all dentists currently registered in the OMD, and whose fees are fully paid up, in accordance with Articles 19 and 27 of the Statutes.
Article 2 - Election procedure
The election procedure is understood to mean all actions related to the elections, taking place between 2 October and the date when the final results are published.
Article 3 - Proceedings
1. Except when otherwise specified, or when demanded by their character, the proceedings during the election process shall be carried out in written form.
2. All means of communication shall be accepted for any proceedings, which can guarantee the necessary celerity of the process.
Article 4 - Representation
Except when otherwise specified, the candidates running for President of the OMD shall be responsible for representing their own lists and for any proceedings pertaining to them.
Article 5 - Notifications
1. Notifications must be addressed to the candidates running for President of the OMD of each list, except when otherwise specified.
2. Further to the previous paragraph, each candidate shall inform the Electoral Commission of the place and the means to be used, in order to smooth the progress of the process. The notifier, however, may use any other means considered appropriate.
Article 6 - Deadlines
1. Except when otherwise indicated, any proceedings in the ambit of the electoral process, including complaints, appeals, etc, shall be conducted within five days.
2. In the absence of specific regulations, the deadline for any actions carried out by the competent electoral bodies shall also be of five days.
3. The deadline shall always be uninterrupted and include Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
Article 7 - Appeals
The proceedings carried out by the competent bodies in the ambit of the electoral process may not be appealed, except when specifically mentioned in the regulations.
Article 8 - Election campaign
1. Each candidate shall be held responsible for his/her election campaign.
2. The election campaign must not contain messages that may in any way offend the honour and dignity of others.
ELECTORAL COMMISSION
Article 9 - Structure
1. The Electoral Commission shall be made up of the board of the general assembly and of one representative for each list, who may or may not be the candidate.
2. The chairperson of the board of the general assembly shall be the president of the Electoral Commission.
3. Each list shall be accountable for the appointment of its representative to the Electoral Commission as well as for his/her conduct.
4. The Electoral Commission shall be considered officially constituted on the first day of the electoral process.
Article 10 - Competences
The Electoral Commission shall manage and control the entire electoral process, including the following competences, whenever they are not attributed to other bodies:
a) supervise the candidacies;
b) make a decision regarding complaints about the provisional list of voters;
c) seal the ballot boxes;
d) identify the voters, appraise the legitimacy and validity of their vote, and count the votes in the ballot boxes as well as the votes sent by mail.
e) announce the official results;
f) write the electoral minutes;
g) display the electoral minutes containing the official results;
h) send a list of the voters who have not voted to the President of the OMD;
i) send the fees collected by the polling stations to the President of the OMD.
Article 11 - Meetings
1. The Electoral Commission shall hold ordinary and extraordinary meetings.
2. The ordinary meetings shall deal with supervising candidacies, sealing the ballot boxes, opening the boxes and counting the votes sent by mail, announcing the official results and writing the electoral minutes.
3. All the other meetings shall be extraordinary meetings.
Article 12 - Operation
1. On the first day of the electoral process, the president shall define the calendar for the ordinary meetings, as well as the place or places where they shall be held (which may be changed afterwards), of which he shall inform each candidate.
2. The Electoral Commission shall hold extraordinary meetings when these are convened by the president or by two or more of its members, on the day, time and place mentioned in the call.
3. The resolutions of the Electoral Commission shall be valid regardless of the number of members attending.
4. All decisions shall be made by simple majority of those present in the meeting. In the event of a tie, the president shall cast the decisive vote.
5. The minutes of each meeting of the Commission shall be written in the minutes book and signed by those present in the meeting, except when somebody refuses to do so, which must be recorded.
6. In emergency cases, the president of the Electoral Commission may act on its behalf, which shall be recorded in the above-mentioned minutes book.
VOTING
Article 13 - Right to vote
1. Only dentists currently registered and whose fees are fully paid up shall be entitled to vote.
2. Those dentists who intend to vote, but whose fees are not fully paid, must pay them before the election in the OMD's offices or at the respective polling station. In the first case, the member shall receive a provisional receipt to be shown before voting. In the second case, the president of the polling station shall issue the corresponding receipt.
3. Further to the previous paragraph, the polling station shall modify the list of voters provided by the Electoral Commission.
Article 14 - List of voters
1. On the first day of the electoral process, the President of the OMD shall hand in to the Electoral Commission, to be displayed in the OMD¿s head office, the provisional list of voters, including the names of the dentists whose fees are fully paid, the number of their membership cards, information about the payment of their fees and the address of the polling station where each dentist must vote.
2. Any complaints regarding the provisional list of voters must be addressed to the Electoral Commission.
3. In the event of any complaint, the Electoral Commission shall make a decision within 10 days after the list is made public, resulting in possible changes. After this period, the president shall order the announcement of the final list of voters.
4. If there are no complaints, the provisional list automatically becomes final.
5. The final list of voters shall be on display until the end of the electoral process.
Article 15 - Information and sending of documents
Within 15 days following the announcement of the candidacies, the President of the OMD shall send each enfranchised dentist a letter explaining the electoral process, including the date of the election, the number of lists identified by letters and the candidates ¿ identifying the lists for the Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee , as well as the place and opening hours of the respective polling station. In addition, the letter must enclose the ballot paper of each list and envelopes for voting by mail.
Article 16 - Ballot papers
1. The ballot paper shall have a rectangular shape, made of non transparent paper and free from any exterior sign or mark.
2. The ballot paper for the election of the Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee shall be of a different colour from that of the other ruling bodies.
3. The ballot paper must include all the lists of candidates, identified by their respective letter, displayed one below the other in alphabetical order, and a blank square next to each letter for ticking the chosen list.
4. The ballot paper for the Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee shall include the names of the candidates running for president, as well as the letter of each list.
5. The ballot paper for the other ruling bodies shall include the names of the candidates running for President and Secretary-General of the OMD as well as the letter identifying each list.
6. After the candidacies have been announced, the Electoral Commission provides this information to the Board of Directors, in order to print the ballot papers.
Article 17 - Voting
1. Voters shall write a cross in the square corresponding to the chosen list.
2. Ballot papers shall be pronounced null when:
a) more than one square has been ticked;
b) there are doubts about the chosen square;
c) when the chosen square belongs to a list that has been excluded from the election;
d) when they have been filled in incorrectly;
e) when containing any drawings, scratches, added words or names crossed out.
Article 18 - Manner of voting
Vote may be cast in person or by mail.
Article 19 - Voting in person
1. When the ballot is cast in person, the dentist must go to the respective polling station on the day and time scheduled for the election, and cast his/her ballot paper into the ballot box.
2. The voters shall be identified through their membership card.
3. During the election, the polling stations shall have ballot papers available.
Article 20 - Voting by mail
1. In the case of voting by mail, the ballot papers shall be introduced in the appropriate envelopes provided by the OMD, on which is written the particular election in question.
2. The vote must be accompanied by a letter addressed to the chairperson of the general assembly with the voter¿s signature witnessed by a notary public
3. The letter shall be forwarded to the head office of the OMD.
4. The vote by mail shall be accepted when received before the closing of the polling stations.
CANDIDACIES
Article 21 _ Announcement
1. The announcement of the candidates shall comply with Article 17 of the Statutes.
2. The candidates of each list shall be identified by their full name, registration number and professional address.
3. At the time of the announcement of the candidacies the full name, registration number and professional address of the representative to the Electoral Commission and of the delegates to the polling stations must be provided, lest their presence in the electoral process be denied.
4. Each list shall be identified by a letter of the alphabet, attributed according to the dates of their announcement.
5. The lists shall be submitted to the chairperson of the General Assembly, who shall present them to the Electoral Commission during its first meeting.
Article 22 - Supervision
1. The Electoral Commission shall supervise the legality of the candidacies, and may reject any list should they fail to comply with the regulations in force.
2. The decision to exclude a list shall be immediately communicated, verbally and in person, to the delegate attending the meeting or, if he/she is absent, to the candidate running for President, regardless of that established in the following paragraph.
3. Further to the previous paragraph, the representative of the excluded list must be provided with a copy of the decision and its corresponding justification.
4. The decision to exclude a list may be appealed to the Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee. Also, the candidate may, if possible, make the necessary changes in order to correct the flaws pointed out by the Electoral Commission.
5. The appeal to the Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee must be made within five days.
6. Any changes in an excluded list, as described in paragraph 4, shall be forwarded to the Electoral Commission within 3 days following the decision defined in paragraph 2. The decision whether or not to accept the changes in the list must be made within 3 days, followed by notification as established in paragraph 2.
7. The Electoral Commission¿s decision to reject the rectified list may be appealed to the Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee, within three days after the respective notification.
8. The appeals mentioned in paragraphs 4 and 7 must be substantiated and submitted directly to the Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee.
9. The Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee shall reach a verdict within 7 days, sending immediate notification to the Electoral Commission and to the candidate.
10. The decision of this Committee is final, whether it accepts or rejects the list in question.
Article 23 - Publication
1. After the candidacies have been accepted, in compliance with the previous article, the lists shall be displayed in the head office of the OMD, on the initiative of the president of the Electoral Commission.
2. The lists shall be on display until the end of the electoral process.
POLLING STATIONS
Article 24 - Polling stations
1. The Board of Directors shall determine the number of polling stations in each election, as well as their location and the area covered by them, all of which must be decided before the beginning of the electoral process.
2. The polling stations shall be made up of a chairperson and a vice-chairperson appointed by the Board of Directors, and of a delegate of each list, who may or may not be a candidate for that list.
3. The appointment of the delegates shall be the responsibility of each list.
Article 25 - Operation
1. The polling stations shall open on the day of the election, in the locations and at the times already determined, regardless of the number of members present.
2. The decisions of the polling stations shall be made by simple majority, its chairperson casting the decisive vote in case of a tie.
3. If the chairperson is absent at the beginning of the election, he/she shall be replaced by the vice-chairperson. Should the latter be also absent, the rest of the members shall appoint a new president by draw, who shall fulfil the duties of the chairperson until the end of the election.
Article 26 - Competences
The polling stations must:
a) Conduct the election;
b) Identify the voters;
c) Deliberate on the legitimacy of the vote;
d) Collect fees due from dentists who intend to vote;
e) Decide on the validity of the ballots;
f) Count the ballots;
g) Send the results, ballot papers, minutes and other documents to the Electoral Commission;
h) send the fees collected to the Electoral Commission.
ELECTION AND RESULTS
Article 27 - Election
1. The election for the different ruling bodies shall be held between 1 and 15 December, the exact date to be proposed by the president of the OMD and approved by the chairperson of the general assembly.
2. The date of the election shall be displayed in the head office of the OMD.
3. The election shall be carried out in the different polling stations previously created.
4. The election for the Ethics and Professional Conduct Committee and for the other ruling bodies shall be conducted in different ballot boxes.
5. The Electoral Commission shall seal the ballot boxes and the president of the Commission shall distribute them among the polling stations.
6. The president of the Electoral Commission shall send the respective list of voters to each polling station, together with sufficient ballot papers for the normal development of the election.
Article 28 - Counting the votes
1. Once the polling stations have closed, their chairpersons shall open the ballot boxes.
2. The polling stations shall count the votes, at a steady pace and without interruptions.
3. Whenever the ballot counting cannot be conducted under normal conditions, the work must be interrupted and the ballot papers adequately kept until the counting may be resumed.
Article 29 - Counting votes cast in person
1. After the counting is concluded, the chairperson of the polling stations shall introduce the ballot papers removed from the ballot boxes into an appropriate box, together with all the other documents. Both containers shall be lacquered and signed by all the members of the polling station, and then forwarded to the Electoral Commission.
2. Next they shall write the minutes recording the results, which shall be signed by all the members of the polling station, except when a member refuses to do so, which must be recorded.
Article 30 - Communication of the results
The results obtained shall be immediately communicated to the president of the Electoral Commission by phone, telex, fax or any other appropriate means, independently of the subsequent dispatch of the minutes of each polling station.
Article 31 - Counting votes by mail
The minutes with the official results shall be on display in the head office of the OMD for 30 days, on the initiative of the Electoral Commission.
1. After receiving all the documents from each polling station, the Electoral Commission shall open and count the votes sent by mail, which must be done at a steady pace and without interruptions.
2. Whenever the ballot counting cannot be conducted under normal conditions, the work must be interrupted and the ballot papers adequately kept until the counting may be resumed.
Article 32
The official result of the election shall be announced by the Electoral Commission, after receiving the minutes of each polling station and counting the votes cast by mail.
Article 33 - Election minutes
1. After the election is concluded, the Electoral Commission shall write the respective minutes, containing the total number of voters, the number of ballot papers, annulled votes, blank votes and the final result of the election.
2. The minutes shall be signed by all the members of the Electoral Commission, except when a member refuses to do so, which must be on the records.
Article 34 - Publication
The election minutes containing the official results shall be on display in the head office of the OMD for 30 days, on the initiative of the Electoral Commission.