Public observers

1. Non-commercial organizations shall have the right, in accordance with the procedure envisaged in their articles of incorporation, to make a decision on participation in election monitoring and sending their public observers.

2. The powers of the public observer shall be determined in writing referral certified by the seal of the non-commercial organization whose interests are represented by the public observer. The referral shall contain the name, surname and patronymic of the public observer, the address of his or her place of residence, the number of the polling station, the name of the commission to which the observer is sent, as well as a note on the absence of restrictions envisaged by section 4 of this Article. The referral shall be valid upon submission of a passport of a citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic by a public observer as well as a certified copy of a decision of a non-commercial organization on participation in election observation.

A non-commercial organization that intends to monitor the elections shall send a notice to the Central Election Commission or a territorial election commission with a copy of the certificate of state registration of the non-commercial organization attached. The Central Election Commission or a territorial election commission shall send to the precinct election commissions the list of non-commercial organizations that have announced their intention to carry out civil monitoring of the elections.

3. Public observers shall be registered by the relevant election commission upon submission of the documents specified in paragraph 2 of this Article. Conditions and procedure of registration, the form of the document on registration of public observers at election commissions shall be established by the Central Election Commission.

A non-commercial organization may register no more than three public observers at each election commission. Only one public observer from one non-commercial organization can be present at one polling station simultaneously.

4. The following persons cannot be appointed as public observers in election commissions: a deputy of the Jogorku Kenesh or a local kenesh, a candidate to the Jogorku Kenesh or a candidate to the local kenesh, persons having political, special state and municipal posts, a state civil and political municipal servant, a member of the election commission, representatives and observers of a candidate, a political party that nominated a list of candidates, judges, prosecutors, employees of other law enforcement and fiscal agencies and military personnel.

5. The term of office of a public observer begins on the day of his / her registration by the relevant election commission and ends on the day of official publication of the election returns.

6. The public observers shall have the right:

1) to monitor the formation of the election commission of whatever level;

2) to monitor the process of formation of the voter lists;

3) to monitor the process of registration of voters;

4) to monitor the information support of the elections;

5) to get acquainted with the voter lists available at the election commission, the log of applications (requests) on voting outside the premises for voting;

6) to be present in the premises for voting on the voting day at any time of the day;

7) to be present during voting outside the voting premises;

8) to publicly express his / her opinion or make statements on the preparation and conducting of elections, including through the mass media;

9) to monitor the procedure of organization and conducting the elections established by the present constitutional Law, without violating the secrecy of elections, including the issuance of the ballot papers, counting the number of voters included in the voter lists, counting the ballot papers handed to the voters and cancelled ballot papers; monitor the counting of votes at a distance and in conditions ensuring the visibility of the content of ballot boxes; check any filled or not filled ballot paper during the counting of votes; monitor the issuance of the protocol on the voting results by the election commission as well as other electoral documents;

10) to make remarks and proposals on issues related to the organization of voting to the chairperson of the precinct election commission to which he or she is sent, and in case of his or her absence - to the substituting person;

11) to get acquainted with the protocol of the election commission to which he / she was sent;

12) to receive from the election commission copies of protocols and documents attached thereto;

13) to be present at the re-counting of votes in the relevant election commissions;

14) to wear badges that do not contain signs of pre-election campaign, indicating his / her status, surname, name and patronymic as well as the name of the organization that sent the observer to the election commission;

15) to make photos, video and audio recordings without violating the secrecy of voting, interfering in the process of voting or summing up the results.

16) to freely move and be present at the polling stations where they are registered complying with the requirements set in section 3 of the present article.

7. A public observer shall not have the right:

1) to hand out ballot papers to the voters;

2) to sign for the voter at his / her request for having received the ballot paper;

3) to fill the ballot paper for the voter at his / her request;

4) to make actions which violate the voting secrecy;

5) to participate directly in the counting of ballot papers conducted by the members of the election commission;

6) to make actions preventing the work of the election commission;

7) to campaign among the voters;

8) to participate in the decision making by a relevant election commission.

8. Public observers shall not have the right to use their status to carry out activities not related to the monitoring of the preparation and conducting of the elections.

9. The relevant election commission shall have the right to cancel the registration of a public observer in case of violation of the present constitutional Law and the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic.

(In the version of the constitutional Law of the Kyrgyz Republic No 96 dated June 5, 2017 and No 116 dated August 8, 2019)