Article 18, paragraphs (1), (3) și (4) shall be amended and shall read as follows:

‘Article 18. – (1) The president and the vice-presidents of the county council, as well as the deputy mayors shall begin to exercise their mandates after they have been declared as legally elected, according to Law No. 215/2001, republished, as amended and supplemented.

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(3) The cessation of the councillor’s mandate, as provided by the conditions of Article 9 paragraph (2), shall have the effect of cessation de jure, on the same day, of the mandate of the president or of the vicepresident of the county council.

(4) The mandate of the county council’s president or vice-president, and of that of the deputy mayor respectively, may cease before its due date after his removal or dismissal from duty, according to the provisions of Law No. 215/2001, republished, as amended and supplemented.’