Status of Proxies
1. Parties, after registering their election lists, and candidates, after registering themselves, may have proxies for protecting their interests in electoral commissions and in their relations with state and local self-government bodies, organizations and mass media. Only citizens of the Republic of Armenia with the right to vote may serve as proxies.
2. Once party lists and candidates are registered, proxies shall be issued with stamped ID cards, based on the submitted lists, but no more than triple the number of precincts. The ID cards shall be issued within five days of submitting the request. The appropriate commission shall include the candidate’s first name, patronymic, last name and the name of the party on the cards. The cards shall be filled out and given to proxies by the candidate or his/her authorized representative or an authorized representative of the party.
3. The procedures for registration of proxies shall be established by the Central Electoral Commission. Candidates or their authorized representatives, and authorized representatives of parties may recall their proxies and appoint new ones at any time upon providing written notification to the appropriate electoral commission.
4. Members of the Constitutional Court, judges, employees of the Republic of Armenia Police and National Security Service, Ministry of Defense, Prosecutor’s Office, tax and customs agencies, social security agencies (services), military servicemen, clergymen, members of electoral commissions, leaders of state-owned mass media and foreign citizens may not serve as proxies.
Article 27.1. Rights and Responsibilities of Proxies, and Safeguards for their Activities
1. Proxies shall have the right:
1) to participate in commission sessions with an advisory vote, and be present in the voting room during the voting;
2) to examine election documents, including appropriate court decisions and statements issued by the Authorized Agency;
3) to examine freely all election documents that are under control of the particular electoral commission, the electoral commission’s decisions and protocols in the presence of the electoral commission’s chairman, deputy chairman, secretary or any other commission member designated by the commission chairman, to receive copies of the aforementioned documents, take excerpts from them, as well as to examine voted ballots in accordance with the same procedures. Copies of or excerpts from decisions, protocols and other records shall be stamped and signed by the chairman (deputy chairman) and the secretary of the commission. Documents received from Precinct Electoral Commissions shall be stamped on the voting day only;
4) to appeal commission’s decisions, actions or inaction;
5) to observe the process of printing, transporting, storing and counting the ballots in accordance with procedures defined by the Central Electoral Commission;
6) to be physically present near commission members, who register voters, issue ballots and ballot envelopes, stamp the ballot envelops or watch over the ballot box, and observe their activities without interfering with their work;
6.1) observe an electoral commission’s work on the voting day, and make comments and suggestions to the commission chairman regarding the commission’s work, in response to which the commission chairman shall take appropriate measures;
7) to examine freely the voted ballots and marks made on them in the presence of the electoral commission’s chairman, deputy chairman, secretary or any other commission member designated by the commission chairman, when the results of the vote are being summarized, and to be present during the counting of ballots and summarization of the vote results;
8) to exercise other rights prescribed by this Code.
2. Proxies shall exercise their rights in accordance with procedures defined in this Code.
3. One proxy for each candidate and each party (party alliance) running in the National Assembly elections may be present during an electoral commission’s session (with an advisory vote) and during the voting.
4. No restriction of the rights of the proxies shall be allowed. No one, including electoral commissions, shall have the right to ask the proxies to leave the voting room or to isolate them in any other way from being present at the commission’s activities, except in the case of their arrest or detention.
5. Proxies shall not be prosecuted for their opinions about the course of the elections or the
summarization of their results.
