Election Rules of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of
Science of Masaryk University
This English translation is for reference purposes only and not a legally definitive translation of the original Czech text. In the event a difference arises regarding the meaning herein, the original Czech version shall prevail as the official authoritative version.
Article 1
(1) These Election Rules of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University
(hereinafter the “Rules”) provide for, in accordance with Act No. 111/1998 Coll., on higher education institutions and amending and supplementing other laws (Higher Education Institutions Act), as amended (hereinafter the “Act”), election to the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University (hereinafter the “Senate”), which has been established, in accordance with the Act, as an autonomous representative university body at the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University (hereinafter the “Faculty”).
(2) For the purposes of these Rules, the term “Chairperson of the Senate” also means the Chairperson of the Senate whose term of office has already expired if no new Chairperson of the Senate has been elected yet.
(3) For the purposes of these Rules, the term “in writing” means sending by e-mail via the Information System of Masaryk University to the following e-mail address:
volební.komise@sci.muni.cz.
(4) For the purposes of these Rules, the term “publication” means a notice published in the “E-votes” app of the Information System of Masaryk University (hereinafter the “App”) and, at the same time, on the Faculty’s website.
(5) For the purposes of these Rules, the term “Election Committee” means either the Election and
Mandate Committee of the Senate (hereinafter the “Election Committee of the Senate”) or the Election Committee appointed by the Faculty Scientific Board, whichever of them is responsible for the election management in accordance with Art. 6 (1).
(1) For the purposes of election to the Senate, the academic community of the Faculty shall be divided into a students’ electoral district and five academic staff electoral districts, specifically the Mathematics electoral district, Physics electoral district, Chemistry electoral district, Biology electoral district and the Earth sciences electoral district.
(2) Each member of the Faculty’s academic community shall belong to one of its electoral districts for the purposes of exercising the rights hereunder. The allocation of the academic staff at individual departments to the electoral districts is specified in Annex 1 to these Rules.
(3) If a member of the Faculty’s academic community is
a. simultaneously a student and a member of the academic staff; or
b. a member of the academic staff at several departments of the Faculty which are allocated to various electoral districts pursuant to Annex 1 to these Rules;
his/her membership of an electoral district depends on his/her decision which he/she makes either upon submission of the candidacy (Article 9 of these Rules) or in the App while casting a vote (Article 11 of these Rules).
(1) Three members of the Senate are elected for each academic staff electoral district.
(2) Twelve members of the Senate are elected for the student electoral district.
(3) Unsuccessful candidates in the individual electoral districts who, based on the results of the election, ranked below the elected members of the Senate shall become substitute members for the given electoral districts in the order following from the number of votes received.
(1) The term of office of the Senate shall be 36 calendar months and it shall be specified in the election notice for the given term of office.
(2) Substitute members appointed and members elected in supplementary and repeated election shall act as members of the Senate only until the end of the relevant term of office.
(3) The term of office of the Senate may be shortened by a resolution of the Senate. For the adoption of said resolution, the consent of three fifths of all members of the Senate is required.
(1) Election, including voting, shall be held electronically via the App.
(2) Appropriate measures shall be taken to ensure confidentiality of the election.
(1) The process of election shall be managed by the Election Committee of the Senate, except for elections announced pursuant to Art. 7 (6), which shall be managed by the Election Committee appointed by the Faculty Scientific Board.
(2) The members of the Election Committee of the Senate, including its chairperson, shall be appointed and removed by the Senate. Members of the Election Committee of the Senate, including its chairperson, must be members of the Faculty’s academic community; however, they need not be members of the Senate.
(3) The Election Committee of the Senate shall be composed of seven members, where each academic staff electoral district shall be represented by one member and the student electoral district shall be represented by two members.
(4) Members of the Election Committee may not run for the Senate. If a member of the Election
Committee intends to run for the Senate, he/she must resign from the Election Committee before candidates can start to submit their applications. One’s membership of the Election Committee of the Senate shall also terminate upon resignation, removal or simultaneously with termination of one’s membership of the relevant electoral district.
(5) If no candidates are nominated from an electoral district for the Election Committee of the Senate or if the nominated candidates are not elected by the Senate, their seats in the Election Committee of the Senate shall remain vacant. However, the Election Committee of the Senate may not have less than five members. If the number of members decreases below this limit and if there is a risk of delay, the Chairperson of the Senate shall appoint the other members of the Committee, regardless of the electoral district to which they are allocated. The Senate shall discuss the appointment at its next meeting.
(1) The election shall be announced and its schedule shall be set by the Chairperson of the Senate not later than 8 weeks before the end of the current term of office of the Senate (where the months of July and August shall not be included in the given period). If the Chairperson of the Senate fails to do so, the election shall be announced within three weeks of expiry of this deadline by the Dean of the Faculty. The announcement of election means publication of the election notice on the Faculty’s website and in the App. The election notice shall include a schedule of tasks and deadlines for election as well as specification of the term of office for which the election is to be held. In this connection, two terms of office may not overlap and the term of office of the Senate may not commence later than 12 weeks after the end of the election (where the months of July and August shall not be included in the given period).
(2) The Election Committee shall disclose the election lists (Article 8 of these Rules) through the App within one week of the announcement of the election.
(3) The Election Committee shall accept candidates for the period of at least three weeks.
(4) Electoral agendas and statements of the candidates must be published by the Election Committee for a period of at least one week before the election and for the entire duration of the election.
(5) Voting by secret ballots using the App shall be available for at least one week. The voting must commence within 8 weeks of the announcement of the election and may not commence earlier than 12 weeks before the end of the term of office of the current Senate (where the months of July and August shall not be included in these periods).
(6) If the Senate does not act pursuant to Section 27 of the Act for a period of six months or if the term of office of the Senate is shortened pursuant to Art. 4 (3) of these Rules, new election shall be announced by the Dean of the Faculty within four weeks at the latest. The schedule of the election announced according to the previous sentence must comply with the requirements specified in paragraphs 1 to 5 of this Article.
(1) The election list means a list of names of members of the relevant electoral district without specification of their UČO (personal university ID).
(2) The Election Committee shall verify the correctness of the lists of members of the individual electoral districts.
(3) Objections against the correctness of a list of members of the electoral district may only be raised in writing (pursuant to Art. 1 (3)), not later than one week before the commencement of the election. The Election Committee shall address the objections without delay.
(1) Only members of relevant electoral districts may run for election. Candidates from among the members of the Faculty’s academic community specified in Art. 2 (3) of these Rules must indicate the electoral district which they are to represent in the election.
(2) The Election Committee must be notified of the candidacy in writing (pursuant to Art. 1 (3)) by the end of the deadline set in the schedule. The notice of candidacy must include the candidate’s electoral agenda and his/her statement in which the candidate discloses whether or not he/she is a member of an academic community other than the Faculty’s academic community and of governing bodies of any legal entities, whether or not he pursues his/her own business activities and whether or not he/she is in an employment relationship with an employer other than Masaryk University. The Election Committee shall confirm to the candidate that it accepts his/her candidacy and that it is valid. If the notice of candidacy contains any error, the Election Committee shall invite the candidate to remedy the error, where such an invitation shall not have a suspensory effect on the deadline for candidacy.
(3) The list of all valid candidates in alphabetical order, including the mandatory parts of the notices of candidacy, shall be published (pursuant to Art. 1 (4)) by the Election Committee within the deadline specified in the schedule.
(1) Pre-election meetings with all candidates or meetings to support the individual candidates may be held at the Faculty.
(2) In this respect, the Faculty shall maintain equal conditions for election campaigns.
(1) The App shall be open for voting according to the announced election schedule.
(2) Voters may cast a vote in the App for up to as many candidates as there are seats in the Senate for the relevant electoral district.
(3) Voters may change their vote until the end of the voting deadline. The same shall apply to any potential choice of the electoral district (pursuant to Art. 2 (3) of these Rules).
(4) No interim election results shall be published.
(5) The Election Committee shall inform the members of the Faculty’s academic community of the ongoing voting by e-mail sent via the App.
(1) The Election Committee shall ascertain the preliminary results of the election in the relevant electoral district using the App not later than the next business day following the last day of the election.
(2) The Election Committee shall publish the preliminary results of the election without delay (pursuant to Art. 1 (4)). The exact time of publication shall be published as well.
(3) The Election Committee shall publish the final results of the election in the manner specified in Art. 1 (4) immediately after the expiry of the deadline for filing complaints to no effect or after handling the complaints, if there were any. The chairperson of the Election Committee shall provide the Chairperson of the Senate, without delay, with a record of the election results confirmed by signatures of all members of the Election Committee. The record shall include, in particular, statistical data on the election and all candidates for individual electoral districts listed according to the number of votes obtained. In case of a serious breach of election principles and rules that could affect the results of the election in the given electoral district, the Election Committee may decide, in cooperation with the Chairperson of the Senate (pursuant to Art. 14 (2) of these Rules), to repeat the election or a part thereof.
(4) Candidates with the highest number of votes in their respective electoral districts are elected.
(5) Unsuccessful candidates become their substitutes in the order of the number of votes they obtained.
(6) In case of equality of votes, the Election Committee shall determine the order by drawing a lot.
(7) The minimum turnout required for the election to be valid is not set for any electoral district.
(8) At the constitutive meeting of the new Senate, the resigning Chairperson shall submit the record drawn up by the Election Committee to the new Chairperson of the Senate. The record drawn up by the Election Committee shall be archived as an Annex to the minutes of the constitutive meeting of the
Senate.
(1) Voters may file a complaint with the Election Committee against a breach of the Act, the Statute of the Faculty or these Rules during the preparation of the election, course of the election campaign, organisation of the election and against the results of the election.
(2) Complaints must be filed in writing (pursuant to Art. 1 (3)) not later than within five business days of the announcement of the preliminary results and it must include a reasoning.
(3) The Election Committee shall decide on the complaint within five business days of the expiry of the deadline for its submission and shall inform the complainant of its decision. The Committee shall invite the Chairperson of the Senate for co-operation when addressing the complaint; the Chairperson has the right to participate in the meeting of the Election Committee and he/she has an advisory vote.
(4) The wording of the complaint and the decision on the complaint shall be attached to the record of the election.
(1) In case of a serious breach of election principles and rules that could affect the results of the election, the mandates in the given electoral district shall be invalid from the outset and the election, or a part thereof, shall be repeated in the given electoral district.
(2) The Election Committee shall decide on fulfilment of the conditions specified in the preceding paragraph by voting. The vote of the chairperson of the Election Committee shall prevail in case of equality of votes. The Chairperson of the Senate has the right to participate in these meetings of the Election Committee and he/she has an advisory vote.
(3) The provisions on election shall apply mutatis mutandis to the repeated election.
(1) Supplementary election for the respective electoral district shall be held if a seat in the Senate has been vacated and, at the same time, one of the following conditions applies:
a) there is no substitute for the vacant seat in the Senate;
b) all substitutes refused their appointment;
c) one member of the Senate for the given academic staff electoral district has already been replaced;
d) members of the Senate for the student electoral district have already been replaced five times.
(2) Supplementary election shall also be held if all members of the Senate were not elected in regular election held in the given electoral district.
(3) Supplementary election shall not be held if the seat in the Senate is vacated during the last six months of the term of office of the Senate.
(4) The provisions on election shall apply mutatis mutandis to the supplementary election.
(1) During the term of office, the membership of the Senate shall terminate:
a) upon expiry of one’s membership of the academic community of the electoral district;
b) upon commencement of office incompatible with membership of the Senate; c) upon resignation.
(2) Members of the Senate shall notify the Election Committee of the Senate of termination of their membership for the reasons specified in paragraph 1 without delay in writing (pursuant to Art. 1 (3)).
(1) The membership of the Senate shall not terminate to students who terminate all their studies at the Faculty during their term of office if they have been admitted to another degree programme organised by the Faculty that directly follows up on their previous studies. However, if the student fails to enrol in the programme, the membership of the Senate shall terminate on the date set for the enrolment in the follow-up degree programme.
(2) Members of the Senate shall notify the Election Committee of the Senate of the possibility to maintain their membership on the grounds specified in paragraph 1 without delay in writing (pursuant to Art. 1 (3)).
(1) If one’s membership of the Senate terminates during the term of office, the first substitute for the same electoral district who does not refuse the office shall become a new member of the Senate. This provision shall be applied no more than once in each academic staff electoral district and no more than five times in the student electoral district.
(2) The substitutes shall be appointed by the Election Committee of the Senate.
(1) The Senate shall archive the election documentation relating to all electoral districts (notices, candidacies, list of candidates, record of the results ascertained from the App).
(2) The Chairperson of the Senate, in co-operation with the Election Committee of the Senate, shall keep a list of members of the Senate.
(1) The Election Rules of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University, as amended on 6 February 2017, are hereby repealed.
(2) These Rules were approved by the Senate on 9 December 2019.
(3) These Rules were approved by the Academic Senate of Masaryk University and they enter into force on 2 March 2020.
(4) These Rules enter into effect on the date of their publication in the public section of the Faculty’s website.
In Brno, on 2 March 2020
|
Signature illegible doc. Mgr. Tomáš Kašparovský, Ph.D. Dean of the Faculty |
Signature illegible RNDr. Milan Baláž, Ph.D. Chairman of the Senate |
Signature illegible
Mgr. Josef Menšík, Ph.D.
Chairman of the Academic Senate of Masaryk University
Published on: 5 March 2020
This English translation is for reference purposes only and not a legally definitive translation of the original Czech text. In the event a difference arises regarding the meaning herein, the original Czech version shall prevail as the official authoritative version.
Annex 1
Allocation of Departments of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University to Individual Electoral Districts
Article 1
Definition of Election Districts of the Faculty
(1) The departments are allocated to electoral districts as follows:
Mathematics electoral district
a) Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Physics electoral district
a) Department of Condensed Matter Physics
b) Department of Physical Electronics
c) Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics
Chemistry electoral district
a) Department of Chemistry
b) Department of Biochemistry
c) RECETOX
d) National Centre for Biomolecular Research
Biology electoral district
a) Department of Anthropology
b) Department of Botany and Zoology
c) Department of Experimental Biology.
Earth sciences electoral district a) Department of Geography
b) Department of Geological Sciences
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