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Article 40
 

Transparency in the Activity of the Election Commissions.



Activity of election commissions shall be transparent to voters.





Members of election commissions, candidates registered within the relevant constituency and their authorized representatives or agents, or agents of referendum campaigning groups, agents of political parties and blocks of political parties shall have the right:





to observe the meetings of the election commission and processes of vote counting, with purposes to become familiar with processing of ballot papers, voters lists, de-registration cards for voting, protocols on election outcomes and voting results in the Precinct and Constituency Election Commissions;



to obtain copies of the decisions and other election documents (except for voters lists, de-registration cards for voting, election ballot papers and signature sheets) of the Constituency and Precinct Election Commissions;



to observe implementation of other election activities in election commissions.





Persons mentioned in Article 40.2 of this Code shall not be required to get any additional permission of the election commission or be registered as observers for attendance in the meetings of the relevant election commissions or for becoming familiarized with the documents mentioned above. A relevant election commission ensures their free access to the locations where election documents are being processed or votes are being counted.





Citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan having the active suffrage, including the foreign citizens mentioned in Article 44 of this Code can act as observers.





The observer can carry out the observation based on own initiative or initiative of a registered candidate, political party, block of political parties, referendum campaign group or a non-governmental organization that functions in the field of elections.





Application for observation within the whole territory the Republic of Azerbaijan can be presented to the Central Election Commission starting from the day of announcing the elections till the period of 10 days prior to elections. Surname, name, patronymic, place of residence, serial and batch number of ID Card of the observer, and if necessary the name of the candidate interests of which are to be represented, or the name of the referendum campaign group, names and legal addresses of the non-governmental organization, political party (or block of political parties) shall be indicated. Two photos shall be attached to the application. The decisions on each application should be made within 3 days from the date it is submitted. Observation can be rejected only if the information provided in the application is not confirmed. If conduct of observation is not permitted by the Central Election Commission, complaint regarding this decision of the Central Election Commission can be filed with the Court of Appeal. In case the observation is allowed, the observer shall be provided with a badge prepared corresponding to rules established by the Central Election Commission.





Application for observation within territory of an election constituency can be presented to the relevant Constituency Election Commission starting from the day of announcing the elections till the period of 5 days prior to elections. Surname, name, patronymic, place of residence, serial and batch number of ID Card of the person intending to observer, and if necessary the name of the referendum campaign group, names and legal addresses of the non-governmental organization, political party (or block of political parties) shall be indicated. Two photos shall be attached to the application. The deadline for making decisions on each application shall be not more than 2 days from the date the application is submitted. Observation can be rejected only if the information provided in the application is not confirmed. If conduct of observation is not permitted by the Constituency Election Commission, complaint regarding this decision of the Constituency Election Commission can be filed with the Central Election Commission. In case the observation is allowed, the Constituency Election Commission shall provide the observer with a badge prepared corresponding to rules established by the Central Election Commission.





Representatives of mass media shall have the right to participate at meetings of election commissions in regard with elections documents and vote counting process.





The relevant election commission shall inform the superior election commissions, each registered candidate and his/her authorized representative, agents of political parties and blocks of political parties which have registered candidates, agents of referendum campaigning groups and the observers entitled to be present at commission meetings about the time of processing the election documents and meetings of election commission, in accordance with the rules considered by Article 20.1 of this Code.





Representatives of the interested parties shall have the right to be present in the meetings, while  elections commission are investigating the officially submitted complaints.





The election commissions shall inform the citizens about:





biography of each candidate registered in accordance with this Code;



results of registration;



list of candidates;



other information received by the election commission about them;



results of voting regarding the referendum issue or candidates.



40.12   The persons mentioned in Article 40.2 of this Code, as well as observers, including international observers, representatives of the mass media can observe implementation of election actions, determination of voting results and election (referendum) returns, completion of protocols of voting results and election (referendum) outcomes, as well as count and recount of votes in all election commissions.

40.13   Only the observers who have obtained specific permission by being registered with the Central Election Commission in accordance with the rules defined by the Central Election Commission for getting the following rights, shall have the right to observe the meeting of the election commission up to the voting day. This right should be indicated on the badge provided by the Central Election Commission. Such observers shall be identified by the Central Election Commission by means of lottery, providing that each of the subjects provided for in Article 40.5 of this Code has one observer with such rights (separately for each election commission), and that the number of such observers for each commission does not prevail 10. No specific permission shall be required to observe a meeting of an election commission on the voting day.

40.14   Unimpeded access of all election commission members, persons mentioned in Article 40.2 of this Code and observers to voting rooms of any of the electoral precincts, including those established in military units, hospitals, sanatoriums, rest homes and oil platforms located in the Caspian Sea, should be ensured.

40.15   All the authorized persons in the voting station, as well as the members of the Precinct Election Commission, the persons specified in Article 40.2 of this Code and mass media representatives should have a badge of specific form defined by the Central Election Commission, that shows surname, name, patronymic, position and picture of the person and allows to determine status of that person.

40.16   An observer should have a badge, indicating his/her surname, name, patronymic, address, election commission (commissions) he/she is assigned to, and approved by the registered candidate, political party, block of political parties, referendum campaign group, non-governmental organizations whose interests the observer represents. This badge shall be valid only if it is supported by an identification card or other substitute document. Advance information about observer’s visit is not required.

40.17   A list of observers, who are in the voting station during the voting day, observing the election actions, shall be kept by the secretary of the Precinct Election Commission.