Decree 66/2023/ND-CP amend Decree 54/2018/ND-CP collect voters’ opinions on establishment, dissolution of administrative units

DECREE

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

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

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

Pursuant to the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration dated November 22, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on the Implementation of Grassroots Democracy dated November 10, 2022;

At the proposal of the Minister of Home Affairs;

The Government promulgates the Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 54/2018/ND-CP dated April 16, 2018, guiding the collection of voters’ opinions on the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation and adjustment of boundaries, of administrative units.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing, annulling a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 54/2018/ND-CP dated April 16, 2018, guiding the collection of voters’ opinions on the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation and adjustment of boundaries, of administrative units

1. To annul Article 2.

2. To amend and supplement Article 4 as follows:

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

1. Citizens having the voting right under Article 2 of the Law on Election of Deputies to the National Assembly and Deputies to People's Councils shall have their names included in voter lists for distributing opinion polls for the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation and adjustment of boundaries, of administrative units, except for the cases specified in Clauses 4 and 5 of this Article.

2. Voters may have their names included in the voter list in the place of permanent and temporary residence registration.

In case the competent authority collects opinions on the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation and adjustment of boundaries, of the same administrative unit in both the place where the voter registers his/her permanent residence and temporary residence, the voter may only have his/her name included in the voter list in the place of permanent residence.

3. 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 and temporary residence to be named on the list of voters and distributed a voter opinion poll.

4. Persons who are deprived of the voting right under legally effective court judgments or decisions, persons who have been sentenced to death and are waiting for judgment execution, persons who are serving imprisonment sentences and are not entitled to a suspended sentence, or persons who have lost their civil act capacity shall have their names removed from the voter list.

5. Voters who have the permanent residence registration or temporary residence registration removed at the commune-level administrative units and are directly affected by the establishment, dissolution, merger, separation, and adjustment of boundaries, of administrative units after the list has been posted, and voters who have been named in the voter list but then have their voting rights deprived by a court, or have to serve an imprisonment sentence or lose their civil act capacity at the time the opinion polls are distributed, are deprived of the voting right by a court, or shall have their names removed from the voter list.

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

3. To add Clause 3 Article 11 as follows:

“3. For commune-level administrative units that do not organize People's Councils, the commune-level People's Committees shall summarize and make a report on the results of the collection of voters’ opinions in their localities for submission to the district-level People's Committees, the remaining contents shall comply with the provisions of Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.”

Article 2. Transitional provisions

For scheme on establishment, dissolution, merger, separation, and adjustment of boundaries, of administrative units that have been appraised by the Ministry of Home Affairs and submitted to the Government before the effective date of this Decree shall continue to comply with the provisions of the Government’s Decree No. 54/2018/ND-CP dated April 16, 2018.

Article 3. Effect

This Decree takes effect on August 25, 2023.

Article 4. Implementation organization

Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies and chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities and relevant organizations, individuals shall implement this Decree./.