CHAPTER I
Article 1
1. The Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology (SPO) as a non-profit legal person under private law is governed by its Statutes.
2. Under the terms of the Statutes, it is necessary to regulate its electoral functioning, updating concepts and instituting rules that serve as electoral functioning regulations.
3. The General Assembly shall, in particular, direct, convene, organise and monitor elections, being the body with primary competence in the electoral process of the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology, under the terms and for the purposes of these Regulations and the Statutes.
4. In the event of conflict between any rules applicable to the electoral process of the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology and without prejudice to any imperative legal rule in force, the Statutes of the Society shall prevail over the others and, finally, any supplementary legal rules.
CHAPTER II
Of the associates
Article 2
1. The categories of members, as well as their admission, are defined in Article 4 of the Statutes.
2. The Board may reject the admission of the candidate for membership if it finds that there have been false statements or lack of moral, ethical or deontological suitability of the candidate, informing the proposers and the candidate of the refusal of admission of the proposed member; the proposers or the candidate may appeal to the General Assembly which shall be sovereign.
3. The General Assembly will be sovereign in its appreciation of the application and may propose to the Direction the measures it deems necessary to investigate the facts and delegate or not to the Direction the subsequent measures to be taken.
4. The annual membership fee is due on 31 March, payable preferably by bank transfer.
5. Any member who has been dismissed for non-payment of dues may be reinstated provided he/she maintains the requirements for such a category, paying off the last three years of arrears.
6. 6. In the case of change of membership category, the member must request the change to the new category by his/her own motto or after receiving a written communication from the OPS. Individually, it is the responsibility of the Executive Committee of SPO, in possession of all the necessary information and documents, to automatically validate the change of member category or to propose it at the General Assembly.
7. The existence of late fees removes any and all other rights inherent to the category of member, being able to attend the activities promoted by SPO since these have been opened to the category of non-member, paying as such (non-member).
8. A computer database will be created where all members will be registered and which will contain the elements of their identity, their clinical name, residence, place of practice or exercise of the profession, fixed and mobile telephone number, fax, e-mail, number and quality of member, login and password to access the site of the OPO, photograph, positions held in the OPO.
9. Data processing is done in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and related legislation.
CHAPTER III
Governing Bodies
Article 3
1. All the provisions of Articles 7 and following of the Statute shall be complied with and various aspects that do not conflict with any of these articles shall be regulated.
2. The election of the Direction, General Assembly Board, Supervisory Board and Section Coordinators shall be carried out jointly through a single vote per list.
3. 3. There shall be an electoral roll containing all members with the right to vote, excluding members with overdue fees. For the purposes of creating this electoral register, only members with paid-up dues up to 60 days prior to the date set for the electoral act shall be admissible.
4. The competing lists will be identified by a letter, determined by the order of its entry at the headquarters of the SPO.
5. The first proposer or signatory of the list shall act as its agent or representative until the final acceptance of the candidates for voting.
6. The list or lists shall be addressed to the Chairman of the General Assembly Board who shall verify their statutory and regulatory compliance and inform the proxy of their acceptance or of the necessary steps for their regularisation, up to 20 days before the electoral General Assembly.
7. Voting for the Governing Bodies shall be carried out preferably by telematic means, and the SPO shall adopt all security measures for the electoral act.
8. Voting will take place on the day of the General Assembly. The electoral act shall be the last item on the agenda.
9. Once the result of the voting has been ascertained, the President of the Bureau shall proclaim the winning list elected, having this proclaimed in the respective minutes as well as the period for which it was elected.
10. If there are several lists, the list obtaining the largest number of votes cast shall be elected.
11. In case of a tie between the lists with the most votes, as many votes as necessary will be taken to break the tie, under the terms foreseen in the present Regulations.
12. Once the results have been announced, the President shall interrupt the work of the Meeting for the time strictly necessary to draw up or conclude the minutes for their approval, except in the case where the Meeting gives a vote of confidence in the Bureau for its preparation, considering it approved in advance.
13. It is the responsibility of the Board of the General Meeting to decide on any complaint, without recourse and without prejudice to impugnation under the legal terms, validating the electoral act or proceeding to its annulment, should it consider that there are legal grounds for the effect.
14. The newly elected members will take office after meetings with the outgoing members, promoted by the President of the General Assembly still in office within 30 days, with the minutes of the meeting being drawn up.
15. It is the responsibility of the Chairman of the Board of the General Meeting to decide on what is omitted in these regulations regarding the electoral process.
Article 4
Electronic voting
1. Electronic voting shall be the preferred method of voting, even in a face-to-face context.
2. In voting by electronic means, the vote shall be cast on the day of the electoral act in person, during a time schedule to be set by the Chairman of the Board of the General Meeting which shall preferably include the period between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., but may be extended if the General Meeting extends beyond that time.
3. Voting in electronic format is expressed through the insertion of a code provided by email, SMS or other equivalent means, to all members who meet the statutory conditions to vote, in a link specifically made available for that purpose, which will include the possibility of exercising the right to vote, with the affixing of a digital signature.
4. The full identification of the candidates, as well as the remaining elements required under the Statutes and the present Regulations, shall be made available on the SPO's internet site.
Article 5
In-person Voting
1. For those who resort to voting in person, the identification of the Member and the capacity to vote will be verified by the Board of the General Assembly, which will record such fact on the Member list, and ballot papers corresponding to the election of the SPO
the Member will be given ballot papers corresponding to the election of the bodies of the SPO.
2. The vote shall be cast using a completed ballot paper folded in four (4), in a separate part of the ballot box and always in view of the members of the Board of the General Meeting, and shall be handed to the latter and placed in the ballot box.
3. Once the voting in person has been completed, the members of the Board of the General Meeting shall count the electronic votes and finally open the ballot box and count the votes cast in person".
Article 6
Vote Counting
1. The counting of votes cast shall be conducted immediately after the close of the electoral act.
CHAPTER IV
Article 7
1. This Regulation be considered active as soon as approved by the General Assembly.
2. Amendments to the regulations may be made at ordinary General Meetings, provided that they are proposed in advance and included in the agenda of the same.
February 2022
