Election of Diffinitors for a Provincial Chapter

The diffinitors of a provincial chapter are the brothers who are elected by all the voters of a provincial chapter to decide, together with the president, the more important affairs of
the chapter.

1. To be eligible as a diffinitor of a provincial chapter, besides the conditions stated at n. 443, § I, it is required that:
   1. he shall not have served as a diffinitor in the immediately preceding provincial chapter;
   2. he is not the prior provincial who completed his term of office immediately before the chapter;
   3. he is assigned in the province, or is a member of the province assigned to a convent under the immediate jurisdiction of the Master of the Order, provided that he does not belong to the general council.
2. Even brothers who are not members of the chapter may be elected diffinitors; in this case they have a vote in all the elections of the chapter except in the election of the prior
   provincial if it has to be repeated.

1. The election of diffinitors is held on the day appointed (see n. 357), under the presidency of the vicar of the province or the prior provincial in accordance with n. 507.
2. It shall be decided by secret vote whether they shall be elected simultaneously or consecutively.
3. With the consent of the majority of the voters, a discussion [tractatus] about those to be elected may be held before the election.
4. All postulation is excluded; and the election shall be carried out in the following manner:
   1. if the diffinitors are to be elected simultaneously, the election ends in the seventh ballot in which a relative majority suffices;
   2. if, however, they are to be elected consecutively, and if for the election of any diffinitor nobody secures an absolute majority in the first three ballots inclusively, in a fourth and
      final ballot only those two may be presented who received the greater number of votes in the previous ballot as in n. 494, § III.
5. No document of election shall be drawn up; the results of the election shall be recorded in the acts of the chapter.

The election of diffinitors needs no confirmation; thus their authority begins immediately after their election and acceptance.