§ Article 31(untitled)

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.

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 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.

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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. (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

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 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, amended by HO-318-N of 4 May 2018)