Armenia Election Code

2016.01.12

ELECTORAL CODE

OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

Adopted on 26 May 2011

PART ONE

SECTION 1

GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

CHAPTER 1

MAIN PROVISIONS

 

Article 1. The Foundations of Elections

  1. In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, elections of the Republic of Armenia President as well as to the National Assembly and local self- government bodies shall be conducted by secret ballot on the basis of universal, equal, and direct suffrage.
  2. Within the scope of the powers vested in them by law, officials of state government and local self-government bodies shall bear responsibility for the lawfulness of the preparation, organization, and implementation of elections.
  3. Suffrage law shall be governed by the Republic of Armenia Constitution and this Code.

Article 2.Right to Vote

  1. Citizens of the Republic of Armenia that have attained the age of 18 on the day of the voting shall have the right to vote in the Republic of Armenia. Persons that do not have citizenship of the Republic of Armenia shall have the right to vote in elections of local self-government bodies in case of being registered for at least six months prior to the voting day in the population register of the community where the election is conducted.
  2. In elections of local self-government bodies, the rights and obligations prescribed by this Code for citizens of the Republic of Armenia shall be extended also to persons that have the right to vote in elections of local self-government bodies.
  3. Citizens declared by court judgment as lacking active legal capacity, as well as citizens sentenced by a final court judgment to imprisonment and serving the sentence in a penitentiary institution, may not vote or be elected.
  4. Military servicemen undergoing compulsory military service or training musters, arrested or detained persons, as well as citizens not registered in the Republic of Armenia may not participate in the voting in local self-government elections and National Assembly elections under the majoritarian electoral system.
  5. Citizens not registered in the Republic of Armenia may participate in the voting in national elections (national elections are the elections of the President of the Republic, as well as the National Assembly elections under the proportional electoral system) if they are included in the supplementary list of voters in accordance with the procedure prescribed by this Code.

Article 3. Equal Suffrage

  1. Voters shall participate in elections on equal grounds.
  2. The state shall ensure equal conditions for the exercise of the right of suffrage of voters.
  3. Voters shall, irrespective of ethnic origin, race, sex, language, faith, political or other opinion, social origin, property or other status, have the right to vote and to be elected.

Article 4. Direct Suffrage

  1. The President of the Republic, the National Assembly deputies, as well as local self-government bodies, except for the Mayor of Yerevan, shall be elected directly.

Article 5. Secrecy of the Vote

  1. The vote shall be secret. Secrecy of the vote shall be not only a right, but also an obligation of a voter. Control over the free expression of will of a voter shall be prohibited.

Article 6. Publicity of Elections

  1. Elections shall be prepared and conducted publicly.
  2. Normative decisions of the Central Electoral Commission shall be published in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Republic of Armenia Law on Legal Acts. Individual decisions of the Central Electoral Commission shall be posted on the website of the Central Electoral Commission on the day of adoption in case of national elections and by the end of the following working day in case of all other elections. Normative decisions of the Central Electoral Commission shall be posted on the website of the Central Electoral Commission on the day of their state registration in accordance

    with the procedure defined by the legislation and receipt by the Central Electoral Commission in case of national elections and by the end of the working day following such state registration and such receipt in case of all other elections.

    The website of the Central Electoral Commission is www.elections.am .
     
  3. For purposes of ensuring the publicity and transparency of organizing and conducting elections, raising the public awareness, and ensuring the security, protection and fail-safe operation of the ¡§Elections¡¨ automated system, as well as for the proper performance of the powers vested in electoral commissions by this Code, such commissions shall be provided with the necessary software, hardware, communication means, equipment, and other facilities.
  4. Candidates, political parties (alliances of political parties) participating in elections under the proportional electoral system, may, in national elections and elections of the Yerevan Council of Aldermen, submit their campaign programs in the electronic form prescribed by the Central Electoral Commission for the purpose of posting on the website of the Central Electoral Commission. After such programs are submitted, the Central Electoral Commission shall post them on the website by the end of the working day following submission.
  5. Candidates shall, within five days of the expiry of the time limit prescribed by this Code for the registration of candidates, submit a declaration on their property and income to the relevant electoral commission; candidates for the President of the Republic shall submit also a curriculum vitae and one photo.
  6. Political parties (political parties included in an alliance of political parties) participating in elections under the proportional electoral system shall, within five days of the expiry of the time limit prescribed by this Code for the registration of electoral lists of political parties (alliances of political parties), submit to the CentralElectoral Commission a declaration on the property and financial assets of the political party.
    The Central Electoral Commission shall define the declaration forms (for candidates for the President of the Republic and for political parties and political parties included in an alliance of political parties, also the electronic forms of declarations), theirsubmission procedure, the day as at which the property declaration is submitted, andthe time period for which the income declaration is submitted.
  7. Declarations of candidates for the President and declarations of political parties shall, within a three-day period of submission, be posted on the website of the Central Electoral Commission. Copies of the declarations of other candidates shall be provided to members of electoral commissions, proxies, mass media representatives, and observers on the basis of their written requests.
  8. During elections of the President of the Republic and to the National Assembly, the Authorized Body maintaining the Voter Register of the Republic of Armenia shall, on the thirtieth, twentieth, tenth day preceding the voting day and on the day preceding the voting day, publish the total number of voters included in the Voter Register of the Republic of Armenia, mentioning also the number of voters included in each supplementary list.
  9. Voters shall, in the procedure prescribed by this Code, be informed of the composition, locations, and working hours of electoral commissions, the time limits for submission of applications on inaccuracies in the lists of voters, and of the nomination and registration of candidates, the voting day, and the voting results and the election results.
  10. On the voting day, precinct electoral commissions shall be obliged to communicate to the territorial electoral commission, by 11:30, 14:30, 17:30, and 20.30 hours, the number of voters having participated in the voting at the particular electoral precinct as of 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, and 20:00 hours, respectively. Territorial electoral commissions shall summarize, publish, and communicate such data to the Central Electoral Commission at the same frequency. In national elections, the Central Electoral Commission shall, at 9:00 of the voting day, publish information on the progress of elections; from 12:00 to 21:00, the Central Electoral Commission shall, once every three hours, publish information as per the Marzes [regions] (in Marzes, also as per Marz centers and communities in the Marz having more than 10,000 voters) and the City of Yerevan on the number of voters having participated in the voting as of the foregoing hour. After the information on the number of voters having participated in the voting is published, it shall be posted on the website of the Commission as per electoralprecincts.
  11. The Central Electoral Commission shall, no later than starting at 0:00 hours on the day following the voting, carry out the tabulation of voting results as per electoral precincts. The Central Electoral Commission shall complete the tabulation of the preliminary results of the voting and shall post the preliminary results of the election on the website of the Commission no later than within an hour of the receipt of the last piece of information from an electoral precinct concerning the voting results, but no later than within 24 hours of the end of the voting.
  12. Proxies, observers, mass media representatives, and, with the consent or upon assignment of the chairperson of the superior electoral commission, members of a superior electoral commission shall be entitled to be present at the sessions of electoral commissions and in polling stations during the entire voting process in accordance with the procedure prescribed by this Code. Proxies, observers, and mass media representatives may take photos and videos of sessions of the electoral commission, as well as of the voting process without violating the right of voters to secrecy of the ballot.
  13. In the cases stipulated by Part 10 of this Article, the Central Electoral Commission shall publish the data by live broadcast over the Public Radio and Public Television of Armenia from the premises of the Central Electoral Commission.

 

When there is only one candidate, Armenia allows voters the option to vote AGAINST that candidate.  Below is a link to the Armenia Election Code.

 

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