Challenges to the Electoral Census of Local Entities, by the representatives of candidates or political parties outside of the electoral period

Organic Law 2/2011 of 28 January has established in the new wording of article 38.2 of Organic Law 5/1985 of 19 June on the General Electoral System (LOREG, for its acronym in Spanish) that «representatives of candidatures or representatives of parties, federations and coalitions may challenge the census of districts which have registered a significant and unjustified increase in the number of residents which has given rise to the communication referred to in article 30(c), within five days from the date on which they became aware of the said communication».

On the other hand, article 30(c) of the LOREG establishes that the Electoral Census Office «controls and reviews ex officio the registrations and de-registrations processed by the competent bodies and prepares a national voter file, communicating to the Central Electoral Board the results of the reports, inspections and, where appropriate, files that it may have initiated with regard to modifications in the census of the districts that have determined a significant and unjustified alteration in the number of residents».

Finally, the aforementioned Organic Law 2/2011, in the new wording given to article 39.4 of the LOREG, has recognized the power to challenge the representatives of the candidatures of the districts that in the previous six months have registered a significant and unjustified increase of residents that has given rise to the communication referred to in article 30(c) of the LOREG.

Outside the electoral periods, the Electoral Census Office shall publish on the website of the aforementioned Office, in a specific section dedicated to this purpose, the list of municipalities or smaller local entities that have registered a significant and unjustified increase in the number of residents that has given rise to the communication to the Central Electoral Board referred to in article 30(c) of the LOREG.

For the purposes of calculating the period of five days available to the representatives of the candidatures or political groups to challenge the census of a local entity, the Electoral Census Office must proceed to publish the list of municipalities or minor local entities that incur in said assumption in the first five days of each month with the corresponding time reference, so that the calculation of the period for the presentation of complaints may not begin before the sixth day of each month.

Complaints shall be submitted directly to the Provincial Delegations of the corresponding Electoral Census Office.

The competent Provincial Delegation shall resolve the complaints submitted within a period of five days and, where applicable, in the light of the facts established in the course of its actions, shall order the appropriate corrective measures, in accordance with the provisions of Article 38(2) of the LOREG, informing the claimant.

Appeals against decisions of the Electoral Census Office Delegations on this matter shall be lodged with the Administrative Law Judge and, in accordance with the provisions of article 38.4 of the LOREG, shall be processed in accordance with the preferential and summary procedure provided for in article 53, paragraph 2, of the Constitution.