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Article 31
 

Accreditation of observers and mass media representatives, issuance of certificates for observers, mass media representatives and visitors


1. Observers of the organisations referred to in part 1 of Article 30 of this Code shall carry out their mission after being accredited to the Central Electoral Commission.


2. Applications for accreditation or for making amendments (supplements) to the list of accredited observers shall be submitted to the Central Electoral Commission after the date of calling elections, but no later than 15 days before the voting day.


Before submitting an application for accreditation, non-governmental organisations registered in the Republic of Armenia shall be obliged to adopt code of conduct for their observers, which must be in line with the international principles for election observation and the regulations of this Code.


Non-governmental organisations referred to in this part shall organise and hold for their observers trainings on electoral legislation and on code of conduct for observers of the organisation.


The application for accreditation must contain an indication on the adoption of and training on the code of conduct for observers of the organisation.


3. The Central Electoral Commission shall deliver to those organisations the certificates to be issued for observers during 12 days after receiving the application.


4. The Central Electoral Commission shall reject the application on accreditation of observers, where the charter objectives of the organisation do not meet the requirements of points 1 and 2 of part 1 of Article 30 of this Code, or the application has been submitted in violation of the time limits prescribed by part 2 of this Article or where the submitted documents do not comply with the requirements of the decision of the Central Electoral Commission prescribed by part 9 of this Article, or the application does not contain an indication on the adoption of or training on the code of conduct for observers of the organisation.


5. In case an observer supports any candidate, political party running in elections, as well as violates the requirements of this Code in such a way that essentially hinders the smooth operation of the electoral commission or the smooth voting process, the chairperson of the electoral commission may remove the observer from the sitting of the commission, and from the polling station on the voting day, upon a decision adopted by at least 2/3 of the votes of the total number of members of the electoral commission.


6. Powers of observers shall terminate on the 8th day following the official announcement of election results, unless an appeal has been lodged with the court against the election results. In case of lodging an appeal with the court against the election results, the powers of observers shall cease on the day following the date of announcement of the judicial act, unless second round of the election or repeat voting is called. In case of the second round of the election or repeat voting, accreditation of observers shall not be required again.


7. Certificates for visitors shall be issued by the Central Electoral Commission on the basis of applications submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia.


8. Representatives of a legal person or a natural person being an individual entrepreneur carrying out media activities (hereinafter referred to as “the mass media representatives”) may, on the voting day, conduct coverage of elections and voting after being accredited to the Central Electoral Commission. The entity carrying out media activities may accredit its representatives, if it has been disseminating on its behalf mass media for at least one year. A 1-year limitation shall not apply where the entity carrying out media activities disseminates mass media through terrestrial on-air broadcasting.
The application for being accredited and the list of mass media representatives shall be submitted to the Central Electoral Commission after the day of calling elections, but no later than 15 days before the voting day. (the sentence repealed by HO-318-N of 4 May 2018)The Central Electoral Commission shall hand over to the given mass media the certificates being issued for the mass media representatives during 12 days after receiving the application.


The Central Electoral Commission shall reject the application on accreditation of the mass media representatives, where it does not meet the requirements of this Article, or the submitted documents do not comply with the requirements of the decision of the Central Electoral Commission as prescribed by part 9 of this Article.


In case the mass media representative violates the requirements of this Code in such a way that essentially hinders the smooth operation of the electoral commission or the smooth voting process, such representative may be removed from the sitting of the commission, and from the polling station on the voting day, upon a decision adopted by at least 2/3 of the votes of the total number of members of the electoral commission.


9. The procedure for accreditation of observers, mass media representatives, the list of documents and information necessary for accreditation, electronic forms of documents submitted for accreditation and the procedure for the submission thereof, forms of certificates for observers, mass media representatives and visitors, and the procedure for completing them shall be prescribed by the Central Electoral Commission.


(Article 31 supplemented by HO-119-N of 30 June, HO-158-N of 20 October 2016, edited by HO-318-N of 4 May 2018)