Competences

General:

To promote the objective enlightenment of citizens regarding electoral and referendum acts, namely through the media;
To assure equal treatment to all citizens in all voters’ registration acts and electoral and referendum operations;
To assure equal opportunities of action and campaign to all candidatures to a given election and to all actors on referendum campaigns.

Specific:

To produce and publish the map-calendar of the elections and referendums, with the dates and acts that should be performed and their due term;
To produce and publish the chart with the number of Members of the Parliament and of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Azores and its distribution by the electoral circles;
To define and announce the colour of the ballot papers of the election for the European Parliament, when it takes place in the same date as other elections;
To register the declaration made by political parties stating that they will participate on the discussion of the questions submitted to national or local referendum;
To verify the regularity of the process of the constitution of groups of citizens-electors and their respective register, on local and national referendums;
To register the declaration of each media organ regarding the position they assume in the campaigns and the declarations, by the press, stating that they wish to publish pieces of news covering the electoral campaign;
To distribute the public broadcasting times regarding the radio and the television among the different candidates and electoral acts and participants in the campaigns for national referendums;
To decide on the appeals of the decisions regarding the use of showrooms and public spaces;
To decide on the appeals of the decisions taken by the electoral commissions (in every consulate), in the elections for the Council of the Portuguese Communities;
To authorise surveys in the election or referendum, to proceed with the accreditation of the interviewers appointed for this effect and to monitor the fulfilment of the relevant procedures, as well as to cancel the previously given authorisations, by a duly grounded act;
To produce the chart with the official results of the elections and referendums and have it published on the Official Journal;
To fine the radio and television stations regarding the violation of the rules applicable to the right of public broadcast and to the surveys in the election or referendum day;
To apply the fines regarding the infractions of political parties, coalitions or groups of citizens, media companies, advertising, polls or owners of showrooms, in the local elections or referendums (national or local);
To chair the assemblies of national balloting of the votes from abroad (by appointing one of its members), in the Parliamentary Election;
To verify the legality of the incomes and expenditures of campaign accounts in the campaigns for national and local referendums.

To better exercise its functions, the National Electoral Commission may appoint delegates where it deems to be necessary.