Article 258

Voting is a right and a civic duty. In all elections, the citizens will vote secretly in individual booths installed in every electoral district using numbered voting ballots printed on paper distributed officially and providing secrecy.

The electoral organization will provide ballots equally to all voters on which they must clearly indicate the names of all the candidates in an impartial manner. The law may establish voting mechanisms that provide more and better guarantees for the free exercise of this right of the citizens.

Article 259

Those who elect governors and mayors entrust the elected official with the mandate to fulfill the political platform that he/she presented on registering. as a candidate. The law will regulate the system of rules pertaining to compliance by the candidate with their platform.

Article 260

The citizens elect in direct manner the President and Vice President of the Republic, Senators, representatives, governors, deputies, mayors, municipal and district councilors, members of the local administrative boards and, when necessary, the members of the Constituent Assembly and the other authorities or officials stipulated by law.

Article 261

No popularly elected position to a public body may have a replacement. Permanent vacancies will be filled by unelected candidates on the same list, in successive and descending order of registration.

Article 262

The election of the President and Vice President may not overlap other elections. The election of Congress will be carried out on a date separate from the election of departmental and municipal officials.

Article 263

To assure the proportional representation of the parties, when citizens vote for two or more individuals in a popular election or in a public body, the system of electoral quotients will be used.

The quotient will be the number that results by dividing the total of valid votes by the number of positions to be filled. The assignment of positions to each list will be done according to the number of times that the quotient divides into the respective number of valid votes. If positions remain to be filled, they will be assigned to those who have the largest remaining numbers, in descending order.


Article 264

The National Electoral Council will consist of the number of members stipulated by law but must not be less than seven, elected for a period of four years, from lists drawn up by the parties and political movements with a legal status and reflecting the political makeup of the Congress. Its members must possess the qualifications mandated by the Constitution for judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and are not subject to reelection.

Article 265

The National Electoral Council will have the following special powers in accordance with the law:

1. To perform the final investigation and supervision of the electoral organization.
2. To elect and remove the National Registrar of Civil Status.
3. To study and decide upon the recourses proposed against the decisions of its delegates on the general ballot of electoral votes and in such cases to declare the results of the elections and issue the corresponding certificates.
4. To serve the consultative body of the government in the areas of its competence, to propose government and legislative bills, and to propose decrees in draft form.
5. To supervise the compliance with the laws concerning parties and political movements and with provisions regarding publicity and political opinion polls; the rights of the opposition and minorities; and the development of the electoral processes under conditions of full guaranties.
6. To apportion the subsidies which the law provides for the financing of electoral campaigns and to ensure the right of political participation of the citizens.
7. To effect the general ballot for all national elections, to declare the results of the election, and to issue the certificates as appropriate.
8. To take cognizance of the legal status of the parties and political movements.
9. To regulate the participation of the parties and political movements in the public mass communications media.
10. To cooperate in the production of internal polls of the parties and movements for the selection of their candidates.
11. To draft its own bylaws.
12. Other matters that the law may confer oil it.

Article 266

The National Registrar of Civil Status will be elected by the National Electoral Council for a period of five years and must have the same qualifications stipulated by the Constitution for judges of the Supreme Court of Justice.

The National Registrar may not be reelected and will exercise the functions established by law, including the management and organization of the elections, the management of the civil register and responsibility for the identification of individuals, as well as the signing of contracts in the name of the Nation in the relevant cases.