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Article 8
 

Publicity of elections


1. Preparations for and holding of elections shall be public.


2. Secondary regulatory legal acts of the Central Electoral Commission shall be published and enter into force as prescribed by the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On legal acts”.


Secondary regulatory legal acts of the Central Electoral Commission shall be posted on the website of the Central Electoral Commission by the end of the day following their state registration and filing with the Central Electoral Commission, and during the period of elections of the National Assembly — on the same day.


Individual legal acts of the Central Electoral Commission shall enter into force in the manner and the time limits prescribed by the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On legal acts”, except for cases prescribed by this Code. These acts shall be posted on the website of the Central Electoral Commission by the end of the day following the adoption thereof.


The website of the Central Electoral Commission shall be the following: www.elections.am.


3. For the purpose of ensuring publicity and transparency of organising and holding elections, raising the level of public awareness, ensuring security, protection and smooth operation of the website of the Central Electoral Commission and the “Elections” automated system, and properly exercising the powers vested in electoral commissions by this Code, relevant electoral commissions shall be provided with necessary software, hardware and communication means, equipment and property.


4. Political parties (alliances of political parties) running in elections of the National Assembly, the Councils of Elders of the city of Yerevan (hereinafter referred to as “Yerevan”), the city of Gyumri (hereinafter referred to as “Gyumri”), the city of Vanadzor (hereinafter referred to as “Vanadzor”) may submit their election programmes in the electronic format prescribed by the Central Electoral Commission for the purpose of posting them on the website of the Commission. The Central Electoral Commission shall post these programmes on the website by the end of the next working day following their submission, but no later than the official start of the election campaign.


5. Candidates shall, within 5 days following the expiry of the time limit prescribed by this Code for registration, submit a declaration of their property and income to the relevant electoral commission.


Within 5 days following the expiry of the time limit prescribed by this Code for registration of electoral lists of political parties running in elections, the political parties (alliances of political parties) running in elections shall submit a declaration of property and income of the political party (political parties included in the alliance of political parties) to the Central Electoral Commission.


The declaration shall include the composition of property as of 1st of the month of submitting the documents for registration prescribed by this Code, as well as income obtained during 12 calendar months preceding the month of the time limit for submitting the documents for registration.


The forms (electronic forms) of declarations and the procedure for submission thereof shall be prescribed by the Central Electoral Commission.


6. Declarations of political parties (political parties included in the alliances of political parties) running in elections shall, within a 3-day period after being submitted, be posted on the website of the Commission. Carbon copies of declarations of candidates shall, on the basis of a written application, be provided to proxies, mass media representatives, observers.


7. During elections of the National Assembly, the state administration body authorised by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, maintaining the State Population Register of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter referred to as “the authorised body”) shall — on the 30th, 20th and 10th day preceding the voting day — publish the total number of electors included in the Register of Electors of the Republic of Armenia, indicating also the number of electors by place of residence and electors having no registration. During elections of the National Assembly, the authorised body shall, on the day preceding the voting, publish the total number of electors included in the Register of Electors of the Republic of Armenia, indicating also the total number of electors by place of residence, electors having no registration, police officers seconded to electoral precincts, electors in a medical institution providing inpatient treatment.


8. Electors shall, as prescribed by this Code, be informed of compositions, locations, working hours of electoral commissions, the time limits for submission of applications on inaccuracies in the lists of electors, the nomination of candidates and the time limits for registration, the day, venue, time of voting, as well as the results of voting and election.


9. On the voting day, by 11:30, 14:30, 17:30 and 20:30, precinct electoral commissions shall be obliged to communicate to the district electoral commission the number of electors having participated in the voting at the given electoral precinct as of 11:00, 14:00, 17:00 and 20:00, respectively. District electoral commissions shall summarise, publish and communicate such data to the Central Electoral Commission with the same interval. During elections of the National Assembly, the Central Electoral Commission shall, on the voting day at 9:00, publish information on the progress of elections, and starting from 12:00 to 21:00 it shall publish, every 3 hours, information on the number of electors having participated in the voting as of the previous hour, by electoral districts, Marz centres and electoral district communities having more than 10 000 electors and the city of Yerevan. After the information on the number of electors having participated in the voting is published, it shall be posted on the website of the Commission by electoral precincts.


During elections of the National Assembly, the Central Electoral Commission shall publish the data referred to in this part by live broadcasting on public radio and public television, from the seat of the Central Electoral Commission.


10. During elections of the National Assembly, the Council of Elders of Yerevan, the Central Electoral Commission shall — no later than the day following the voting, starting at 00:00 — carry out tabulation of voting results by electoral precincts, service areas of district electoral commissions and electoral districts. The Central Electoral Commission shall finalise the tabulation of preliminary voting results and shall post them on the website of the Commission, with the possibility to download, no later than within one hour following the receipt of the latest information from the electoral precinct on the voting results, but no later than within 24 hours following the end of the voting.


During elections of the National Assembly, the Council of Elders of Yerevan, the Central Electoral Commission shall — following the adoption of the decision based on election results, but no later than within one hour after the end of the sitting — post the final tabulation of voting results by electoral precincts, service areas of district electoral commissions and electoral districts on the website of the Commission with the possibility to download.


11. Proxies, observers, visitors, mass media representatives and — upon consent or assignment of the chairperson of the higher level commission — members of the higher level electoral commission shall have the right, as prescribed by this Code, to be present at the sittings of electoral commissions, as well as in the voting room during the entire voting process. Proxies, observers, visitors, mass media representatives may photograph and videotape the sittings of electoral commissions (including the sitting for summarisation of the voting results), as well as the voting process without violating the right of electors to secrecy of voting.


“11.1. During the elections of the National Assembly, the Central Electoral Commission shall allow the specialised organisation — selected as a result of a competition held as prescribed by the Government — to video record, from all electoral precincts, the voting process and the process of summarisation of voting results, as well as to concurrently webcast, in real time, via website (websites) specifically created for that purpose.


The video shall be recorded by fixed cameras. The field of view of cameras must cover the ballot box, the polling station and its entrance, with a radius of up to 50 metres, as well as the processes of registration of electors and allocation of ballot envelopes and ballot papers and of summarisation of the voting results. Video recording and webcast shall be made in observance of the principle of secrecy of voting prescribed by this Code.


The person possessing the premises of a polling station and electoral commissions shall be obliged to assist the specialised organisation in organising the process of video recording and webcasting; however, they shall not be responsible for the organisation of the process and the quality thereof.


The specialised organisation shall, on the basis of a written application, provide copies of materials video-recorded at an electoral precinct to electoral commissions, political parties running in elections and organisations having carried out observation mission, subject to payment of the cost price of copying. The application may be submitted before the expiry of time limits prescribed for challenging the decision of the Central Electoral Commission on election of the National Assembly, and in case of challenging that decision, before the adoption of a decision by the Constitutional Court. The application must contain the number of the electoral precinct copy from the video-recorded materials whereof is requested, and electronic media, complying with the requirements prescribed by the specialised organisation, must be submitted with the application.


The video-recorded materials shall be archived by the specialised organisation and maintained in the manner prescribed for maintenance of election related documents.”.


 12. Both the general number of electors registered in military units and the number of those registered by electoral precincts, the numbers and locations of the electoral precincts, where the electors included in the lists of electors being drawn up in military units, lists of electors being drawn up in military units shall not be subject to publication, extracts therefrom shall not be made.


(Article 8 supplemented by HO-158-N of 20 October 2016)
(Amendments to Article 8 shall be applied upon the entry into force of the Law of HO-158-N of 20 October 2016, starting from the first round of election of the National Assembly)