Decree No. 54/2018/ND-CP dated April 16, 2018 of the Government on guiding the collection of voters’ opinions on the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation and adjustment of boundaries, of administrative units

DECREE

Guiding the collection of voters’ opinions on the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation and adjustment of boundaries, of administrative units^[1]

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of Local Administrations;

At the proposal of the Minister of Home Affairs;

The Government promulgates the Decree guiding the collection of voters’ opinions on the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation and adjustment of boundaries, of administrative units.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. Scope of regulation: This Decree guides the collection of voters’ opinions on the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation and adjustment of boundaries, of administrative units provided in Clause 2, Article 131 of the Law on Organization of Local Administrations.

2. Subjects of application: Organizations and individuals directly engaged in the collection of voters’ opinions on the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation and adjustment of boundaries, of administrative units.

Article 2. Interpretation of terms

In this Decree, voter means a citizen of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam who has registered permanent residence in a commune-level administrative unit who is directly affected by the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation or adjustment of boundaries, of an administrative unit, aged full 18 years and having full civil act capacity counting from the date the competent agency decides the organization of the collection of voters’ opinions.

Article 3. Prohibited acts

1. Disseminating or providing untruthful information about contents and purpose of the collection of voters’ opinions.

2. Using tricks to deceive, buy off, force or prevent voters from giving their opinions or collecting opinions of voters against their willingness.

3. Forging papers or committing a fraud or using other tricks to falsify results of the collection of voters’ opinions.

4. Taking advantage of the collection of voters’ opinions to provoke violence, disturb or infringe upon the national security and social order and safety, or infringe upon national interests as well as legitimate rights and interests of state agencies, organizations and individuals.

Chapter II

LIST OF VOTERS FOR DISTRIBUTION OF OPINION POLLS

Article 4. Principles for making of the list of voters for distributing opinion polls

1. All voters in a commune-level administrative unit who are directly affected by the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation or adjustment of boundaries, of such administrative unit may be named in the list of voters and distributed voter opinion polls.

2. Each voter may write his/her name on the list of voters in the locality where he/she registers his/her permanent residence.

3. For a voter who is held in custody or temporary detention or being subject to the measure of consignment into a compulsory education institution or compulsory rehab center, the commune-level People’s Committee where he/she registers his/her permanent residence shall write his/her name on the list of voters for distribution of opinion polls in the locality where he/she is held in custody or temporary detention or where the compulsory education institution or compulsory rehab center is located.

4. For an overseas voter who returns to Vietnam during the period from the time the list of voters is made by the commune-level People’s Committee of the locality where he/she resides to 24 hours to the time the competent agency decides the collection of voters’ opinions, he/she shall produce a passport stating his/her Vietnamese nationality to the commune-level People’s Committee where he/she registers his/her permanent residence to be named on the list of voters and distributed a voter opinion poll.

5. A voter who changes his/her residence to another administrative unit after the list is posted, or has been named on the list but is declared by the court to have lost his/her civil act capacity, serve an imprisonment sentence or be deprived of citizens’ rights before or at the time of casting ballots, shall be deleted from the list of voters.

6. The list of voters shall be posted up for 30 days until the date of organizing the distribution of voter opinion polls.

Article 5. Competence for making of and posting up lists of voters for distribution of voter opinion polls; complaints and settlement of complaints about lists of voters

1. Commune-level People’s Committees shall make and post up lists of voters for distribution of voter opinion polls in their localities at the time of opinion collection.

2. Should any error be detected in a list of voters, a citizen may lodge a complaint to the commune-level People’s Committee where such list is made within 10 days from the date the commune-level People’s Committee distributes voter opinion polls. The commune-level People’s Committee making the list of voters shall record such a complaint in a book. Within 3 working days after receiving the complaint, the commune-level People’s Committee shall settle such complaint and notify settlement results to the citizen.

3. In case the citizen disagrees with the complaint settlement results or his/her complaint remains unsettled after the expiration of the time limit for complaint settlement, he/she may initiate a lawsuit at a people’s court in accordance with the law on administrative procedure.

4. For a district-level administrative unit that does not establish commune-level administrative units, the district-level People’s Committee shall make and post up a list of voters and perform other tasks and exercise other powers provided for commune-level People’s Committees in Article 131 of the Law on Organization of Local Administrations and this Decree.

Click download to see the full text