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OBSERVERS HAVE RIGHT TO TAKE PHOTOS

Politics

The Central Electoral Commission has registered the participation of "It is your Choice" NGO in the elections with observation mission. The registration of observers at the CEC will continue until the official launch of elections. "It is your Choice" NGO, which has participated in all elections since 1999, will have observers in all 1923 polling districts. By the way, the Organization will not only carry out observation mission during the elections, it will also participate in the whole election process including the campaign.

The Organization also organizes trainings for observers, since many amendments have been made in the Electoral Code and the observers should be aware of them.

The Code has been amended 7 times since 1999, and each time the Organization faces the same problem – organizes trainings for observers.

The electorates, particularly in the regions, consider that their votes can be deciphered.

“I would like to inform everyone that voting will be secret and no one will be able to find out who you have elected”, informed Harutyun Hambardzumyan, the head of "It is your Choice" NGO. He ensures that it is impossible to find out who the citizens have elected, since according to the amendments to the “Electoral Code” the position of cameras have been shifted, and no one can see who the voter has elected.

Harutyun Hambardzumyan also noted that no one could make a voter elect by this or that pen. The observers will register how many ballot papers have been filled in by various colored pens and the Organization will have facts in case of necessity.

It is worthwhile to mention that in the result of amendments to the law the observers have acquired the right to register the facts by photos.

“Now the observers and proxies have the right to video the counting process, but so many fraud cases may occur before counting process, unfortunately, we are not competent to video all the cases”, said Harutyun Hambardzumyan. He also pointed out that their rights as observers were also violated. “There were cases when observers and proxies were locked in another room until ballot papers were counted. Sometimes observers were dismissed from the polling district by voting”.