All physiotherapists who, on the date the electoral roll is drawn up (15 October 2024), have not been in arrears with their membership fees for more than six months are eligible to vote.
The main duties of the Supervisory Board are to ensure the legality of the activity of the Order's bodies, exercising powers of control, particularly in terms of regulating the practice of physiotherapy. It is made up of five members with voting rights: two representatives of the profession who are registered with the Order, two representatives of higher education establishments that qualify for the profession of physiotherapist and who are not registered with the Order, and a personality of recognised merit co-opted by the aforementioned members, by an absolute majority. The president of the Council is elected from among the members not registered with the Order.
The rules are stipulated in the Electoral Regulations of the Order of Physiotherapists, available for consultation here. here. This regulation has been updated to reflect the specificities of the election of the Supervisory Board.
The Electoral Commission is made up of the chairman of the General Council and a representative from each of the lists admitted to the vote, to be appointed when the respective nominations are submitted.
The Electoral Commission is responsible for:
- Receiving and admitting nominations;
- Supervising the electoral process and resolving any issues that arise within it;
- Distributing the support resources made available by the Board among the different applications;
- Carrying out the tabulation of election results;
Nominations for the Supervisory Board must be submitted to the Electoral Commission between the following days 17th August 2024 e 16 September 2024. To submit your application, go to the application forms available at here and follow the instructions provided.
Each candidate list for the Supervisory Board must be signed by at least 50 subscribers. The candidate list must also promote equality between men and women, "(...) ensuring that the proportion of people of each sex is not less than 40%, unless in the electoral universe there is a percentage of people of the less represented sex of less than 20%." Law no. 26/2019, of 28 March, states that "candidate lists shall comply with the following sorting criteria: a) The first two candidates may not be of the same sex; b) There may not be more than two candidates of the same sex in a row." In accordance with paragraph 1 a) of Annex I, the application must be addressed to the Chairman of the Electoral Commission.
Applications must be submitted by 16th September 2024.
The Electoral Commission will check that applications are in order, in accordance with the electoral regulations, within 5 days of receiving the applications on 21 September. In the event of an irregularity, the list's authorised representative must remedy the situation within 3 days.
Each list shall appoint a proxy from among the full members of the Order with electoral capacity, who shall be empowered to represent it throughout the electoral process.
The electoral campaign period begins the day after the lists admitted to vote are posted and ends at 11.59pm on the day before the elections, i.e. 13 November.
During the election campaign period, the Order will provide candidates with the means to promote their proposals and interact with voters, as follows:
- Each candidate list is entitled to send 3 e-mails. The message to be sent should be addressed to eleicoes@ordemdosfisioterapeutas.pt so that the Order's services can forward it to all voters;
- at the request of interested parties, links to the pages of the candidate lists will be placed on the Order's website
The Order will also provide occasional access to its premises at Rua D. João V, n° 24 - 1.03, 1250-091 Lisboa.
- The availability of a space on the premises, with a capacity of up to 15 people, must be requested by the representatives of the candidate lists, indicating the date and time desired, at least 48 hours in advance, to eleicoes@ordemdosfisioterapeutas.pt;
- The organisation's services must respond to requests made within 24 hours;
- In the event of overlapping dates, and if there is no agreement between the lists, the premises will be made available to the list whose request was received first, and the other list must suggest an alternative date;
- The time available to use this space is from 9am to 6pm on working days.
The Order, using the terms of its Statute, has decided that there will be no contribution to the costs inherent in the electoral campaigns of the lists that may stand for election, as in the previous electoral process.
The electoral roll containing the registered voters will be displayed at the Bar Association's headquarters on 16 October 2024, and will also be made available on the Bar Association's electronic portal, and will remain so until the date of the elections.
Under the terms of its Statutes, the Order has decided that voting will be exclusively electronic, through access to a specific platform that will guarantee the authenticity and secrecy of each voter's vote. This modality can also be carried out in person at the Order's premises in Lisbon.
