Art. 9. The public Administration shall have the right, in accordance with these stated Regulations, to establish rules which shall be obligatory upon the whole population of Harbin, to carry out their execution, and to institute criminal prosecution against persons guilty of infraction of these Regulations, according to the laws of their respective nations.
Art. 10. The municipal management shall consist of (1) an assembly of citizens and (2) a town council, to which shall be attached the executive organ.
Election of Delegates.
Art. 11. For the election of sixty delegates and twelve supernumeraries thereto, from persons having the right of vote at elections (Article 12) will be formed a body of electors.
Art. 12. The right of vote for the election of delegates shall be without distinction as to subjection, nationality, class of society, or religion, to all who have reached the 25th year of age and are citizens of the town territory, having resided therein not less than one year, provided (1) they are possessors or representative managers of trade or industrial enterprises, having the rights of long-term leases on lots or buildings, the value on which taxes are paid being not less than 1,500 roubles, or having the rights of short-term leases on lots on which taxes are paid being not less than 600 roubles a year, or occupying flats which are assessed at a valuation of not less than 600 roubles per year; or (2) paying above all taxes for the public Administration in a sum not less than 10 roubles a year.
Note.—Persons not occupying flats themselves, but living in buildings occupied by business or other establishments in which they are employed, if answering to all other requirements shown in Articles 12 and 13, shall have the right of vote for the election of delegates.
Art. 13. Females shall have the right to be represented at elections by proxies, as shall also minors and those having guardians.
Art. 14. When several persons have immovable property in undivided possession, one partner thereof shall have the right of vote by agreement with the others.
Art. 15. No persons shall have the right of two votes at a town election—this is one for himself and the other as a proxy or as a representative.
Art. 16. The right of vote at elections shall not be given to (1) persons deprived of their rights as citizens, and in general who have been convicted for criminal offences; and (2) persons who are delinquent in the payment of the town taxes.
Art. 17. Representatives of firms and establishments and females, and also guardians and all incompetent persons, may be present at elections only on condition that they comply with the requirements regarding their age and residence in Harbin (Article 12), and also with the requirements of Article 16 of these Regulations.
Art. 18. A list of persons having the right to vote at elections shall be compiled by the Town Council, and shall be published for general information not later than one month before the elections.
Art. 19. Within seven days from the date of publishing the lists, the residents of the town territory may present to the Town Council complaints relating to the incorrectness and incompleteness thereof. The Town Council shall correct the lists according to the complaints, which shall be recognized as well-grounded, and shall present it to the Superintendent of the railway for judgment, with the complaints which were left without consideration. The decision of the Superintendent of the railway in affairs of this nature shall be regarded as conclusive.
Art. 20. The completed election lists, after their correction in accordance with Article 19, shall be published not later than seven days before the election, and being so published, no corrections or additions to the list shall be permitted. Persons who are not on the list, or who have lost the right of vote before the election, shall not take part in the election.
Art. 21. The President of the Town Council shall preside over the body of electors from which the necessary number of members shall be invited before for his assistance in collecting and counting the votes. In case it is impossible for him or his substitute to preside at the meeting of the body of electors, a person appointed by the Superintendent of the railway from the delegates shall preside.
Art. 22. The meeting will proceed to the business of the election in case the number of electors shall not be less than 100.
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Art. 23. Persons who have the right of vote at elections may be elected as delegates. Such persons, not declining, are eligible for ballot if his nomination is proposed by not less than five voters, or if he expresses a wish to be elected.
Art. 24. Elections shall be conducted by closed ballot, with ballot balls.
Art. 25. The election of a delegate shall be by a majority vote. If the number of persons receiving majority votes be greater than the number to be elected, then those receiving the largest number of votes shall be considered as elected. In case of equal ballot the election shall be decided by lots. The supernumeraries elected shall be considered as candidates.
Art. 26. The number of votes received by each person shall be recorded in the electoral list, which, after the election, shall be read to the meeting of the electoral body, and signed by the chairman and the present electors.
Art. 27. After the election, the meeting of the electoral body shall be closed, and not later than one day thereafter the original electoral list shall be transmitted by the chairman to the Town Council. From this list will be composed by the Town Council a list of the elected delegates and their supernumeraries, which within two days shall be communicated to the manager of the railway together with the electoral lists.
Art. 28. Complaints of improper balloting may be presented to the manager of the railway within three days after the election.
Art. 29. If the manager of the railway will find from the complaints presented any infractions of the stipulations regarding elections in these Regulations, he may revoke the election and decide to have a new election; or in case of error in the election of the delegates, he may decide upon their being replaced by candidates who received majority votes.
Art. 30. If the number of elected delegates will be less than forty, then for the election of the additional number required a new meeting of the electoral body shall be appointed according to the provisions shown in these Regulations. If after the second election the number of elected delegates will still be less than forty, then the required number will be completed by appointment by the manager of the railway from the persons who were included in the electoral lists, but, if possible, from the persons who received a majority vote at the first or second meeting of the electoral body.
Art. 31. Upon finishing the election and completing in case of necessity the required assembly of delegates according to the provisions of Article 30, a conclusive list of delegates will be made by the order of the manager of the railway, which shall be published for general information.
Meetings of the Delegates.
Art. 32. The meetings of the delegates shall be conducted under the presidency of the chairman of the Town Council, and shall be composed of members of the sixty delegates who shall be elected for a term of three years.
Art. 33. If during the elected term any one of the delegates will lose the right to take part at the elections, or shall refuse to serve as a delegate, such person shall be recognized as retired, and shall be substituted until the end of the term by a person who received a majority vote at the election.
Art. 34. The delegates shall elect from among their number a secretary and a vice-secretary to serve for a term of three years.
Art. 35. The meeting of the delegates shall be called by the chairman, according to the requirements of the notice in which must be stated the questions to be considered. The accounts of the Town Council for the past year shall be examined not later than September, and the budget for the following year not later than November.
Meetings of the delegates shall be called by the chairman according to his judgment, or at the request of the manager of the Eastern Chinese Railway, or by a written petition signed by not less than twenty delegates. Upon receipt of such request from the manager of the Railway Company, or petition signed by the delegates, the chairman shall appoint a meeting not later than five days.
At a meeting of the delegates a quorum shall consist of not less than one-half of the delegates.
Art. 36. The decisions of the meeting shall be recorded and signed by the chairman and secretary of the meeting and the Town Council, and by those of the delegates present at the meeting who wish to do so.
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