(1) After the polling station has been closed, the president, in the presence of the members of the electoral bureau, shall proceed to the counting of the ballot papers and to the registration of the result of the voting, as follows:

a) (s)he shall verify the integrity of the seals on the ballot boxes, seal the slot of the ballot boxes, put the ‘VOTED’ stamps in an envelope sealed by affixing the control stamp of the polling station. The disappearance of one or several stamps shall be mentioned in point i) of the report referred to in Article 94 paragraph (3);

b) (s)he shall annul the unused ballot papers, by writing the word ‘ANNULLED’ on the diagonal of the first page and by affixing the control stamp of the polling station; if there are intact packs of ballot papers, the word ‘ANNULLED’ shall be written only once on the respective pack and the control stamp of the polling station shall be affixed only once; the number of these ballot papers shall be registered in point f) of the report stipulated under Article 94 paragraph (3);

c) (s)he shall determine the number of voters enlisted in the permanent electoral list and in the copy of the complementary electoral list received from the mayor of the administrative-territorial unit in whose jurisdiction the polling station is located. It is forbidden to have any erasures, modifi cations or additions on these lists, other than those resulting from applying Article 85 paragraph (4) point d), Article 87 and, respectively, Article 91 paragraph (2). The voting result is registered under points a_l), a₂) respectively, of the report’s model referred to in Article 94 paragraph (3);

d) (s)he shall determine the number of voters present for the vote, by counting the signatures on the electoral lists existing at the polling station. The results shall be registered in the report in points b_l), b₂), b₃) and b₄), respectively, of the model referred to in Article 94 paragraph (3);

e) after unsealing the ballot box, the ballot papers found inside shall be counted, by separating the validly cast votes, respectively the null votes for the local council, the county council, or, as the case may be, the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest, respectively for the mayor, the president of the county council or, as the case may be, the General Mayor of the Municipality of Bucharest;*

f) (s)he shall read out loud, when opening each ballot paper, the list of candidates voted or, as the case may be, the surname and first name of the independent candidate or the surname and first name of the candidate for the mayor’s office or the surname and first name of the candidate for the office of president of the county council voted and shows the ballot paper to those present; opened ballot papers are selected by local council, county council, or, as the case may be, the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest, and by the mayor, president of the county council or, as the case may be, General Mayor of the Municipality of Bucharest, are grouped by political parties, political alliances, electoral alliances or organisations of citizens belonging to national minorities and independent candidates and are counted and bundled separately;*

g) the results of the voting shall be recorded in separate tables for the local council, the county council, the mayor, and the president of the county council respectively, by a member of the electoral bureau of the polling station, appointed by the president; if, upon recording the results, candidates are also present, they have the right to draw up a table, too; in the case of the Municipality of Bucharest, a distinct table shall also be drawn up for the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest, as well as one for the General Mayor of the Municipality of Bucharest;*

h) the total number of voters, the total number of null votes, the lists of candidates or, as the case may be, the surname and first name of independent candidates, and the surname and first name of the candidates for the office of mayor and of the candidates for the office of president of the county council, as well as the number of votes validly cast for each shall also be included in the tables referred to in point g); the tables thus drawn up are working instruments for fi lling in the minutes;*

i) the ballot papers without the control stamp of the polling station, the ballot papers having a diff erent model than the one legally approved, the ballot papers not having affixed the ‘VOTED’ stamp or those on which the stamp has been affixed on multiple quadrilaterals or outside them shall be considered null; even if the stamp affixed has exceeded the limits of the quadrilateral, the vote shall be deemed valid if the voter’s option is obvious; null ballot papers shall not be counted as validly cast votes.

(2) Ballot boxes shall be opened only in the presence of the members of the bureau and, as the case may be, of the persons entitled to attend the voting. Representatives of all political parties, political alliances and electoral alliances or of organisations of citizens belonging to national minorities having participated in the elections and having no representatives in the electoral bureau of the polling station may participate in the counting of the votes, as delegates. The delegates are accredited by the electoral bureaus of communal, town, municipal or sector constituencies, as the case may be, upon the written request of the managements of the county organisations of political parties, political alliances and electoral alliances or organisations of citizens belonging to national minorities, at least 2 days before election date.

* Amended by Government Emergency Ordinance No. 40/2019.