Summary
Political party and candidate representatives should be allowed in the polling station to observe polling.
Obligations
Election Parts
Criteria
Quotes
- [States should foster citizen participation in the electoral process by] guaranteeing that all possible means are used to make all polling stations accessible.
- Ensure the transparency and integrity of the entire electoral process by facilitating the deployment of representatives of political parties and individual candidates at polling and counting stations and by accrediting national and/other observers/monitors.
- Candidates or political parties shall have the right to be represented at polling and counting stations by duly designated agents or representatives.
- [P]olling stations must include representatives of a number of parties, and the presence of observers appointed by the candidates must be permitted during voting and counting.
- [P]olling stations must include representatives of a number of parties, and the presence of observers appointed by the latter or by other groups that have taken a stand on the issue put to the vote must be permitted during voting and counting.
- Various political parties are represented in the polling station as long as voting is permitted.
- It is particularly important to guarantee the possibility of all parties and candidates to have observers during the election day. In this respect, it is evident that parties have some elements –permanent organization, membership, and so on- which help them in this task, and that are much more difficult to dispose of for other non-partisan candidates. These observers must have the right to control all the spheres of the voting process (polling boxes, election committees at all levels), to intervene – at least, to be heard- in the resolution of possible conflicts which may arise, and to inform the parties which they represent about the problems during the observation so that the latter could lodge appeals against any decision not grounded in legal terms.