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Article 18
 

Basic Principles of Pre-Election Campaign

 

1. The state shall ensure the free exercise of citizens’ right to campaign before elections. Pre-election campaign shall be carried out on the basis of equality. It shall be ensured by state bodies, upon the request of electoral commissions, by providing halls and other premises for pre-election meetings, meetings of voters with candidates and other election-related events. These shall be provided to candidates and parties, running in elections, on an equal basis and free of charge, in accordance with the timetable and procedures defined by the Central Electoral Commission.

2. Citizens, parties and party alliances (hereinafter referred to as parties) of the Republic of Armenia shall have the right to campaign for or against any candidate or party in ways not prohibited by law.

3. Candidates and parties shall be guaranteed equal conditions for access to mass media, i.e. broadcasting time or space, price, etc.

4. Campaigning and disseminating any kind of campaign materials to the following individuals or bodies shall be prohibited:

1) national and local self-government bodies and their employees while they are carrying out their official duties;

2) members of the Constitutional Court, judges, employees of the Police and National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia, employees of prosecutorial bodies (servicemen), and military servicemen;

3) charities and religious organizations;

4) foreign citizens and organizations;

5) members of electoral commissions. 5. Pre-election campaign shall start on the day after the deadline for registration of candidates and parties and end one day before the voting day. Any campaign on the voting day and the day preceding it shall be prohibited. Campaign materials that are not at the precinct center shall remain where they are on the voting day.

6. Pre-election campaign may be carried out through the mass media, election-related public events (pre-election meetings and meetings with voters, public discussions, debates, rallies, marches, demonstrations), by printing various materials and disseminating audio and video materials.

7. During pre-election campaign, it shall be prohibited for candidates (parties) to give (promise) – personally, on his or her behalf, or through other means - any money, food, securities, or goods to citizens free of charge or on favorable terms, or to render (promise) any services.

8. Candidates and parties (party alliances) shall be required to observe the procedures for organizing their pre-election campaign. Adherence to the established procedures for preelection campaign shall be monitored by electoral commissions. If any candidate or party (party alliance) violates these procedures, the electoral commission that has registered that candidate or the party (party alliance) shall notify the appropriate authorities in order to prevent such violations; it shall issue a warning to the candidate (party, party alliance) violating the procedures, suggesting that the violation be rectified within 3 days. In the event of a failure to rectify the violation before the established deadline the commission shall also take the case to a court of law, asking it to invalidate the registration of the candidate or the party (party alliance) electoral list. Once such an application is received from an electoral commission, the court shall be required to reach a verdict in a procedure and timeframes set forth by the Republic of Armenia Administrative Procedure Code.

9. Candidates who are under arrest or detention shall conduct their pre-election campaign through their proxies. For that purpose, during pre-election campaign, candidates who are under arrest or detention have the right to meet with no more than three of their proxies for up to two hours every day at the place of their arrest or detention.