As part of a training program for all Precinct Elections Commissioners, the Central Elections Commissions will conduct a training session for commissioners at Charents School located on February 11. Several high ranking officials will attend the event, including CEC Chairman Tigran Mukuchyan, British Ambassador Jonathan Aves, Ambassador and Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, Andrey Sorokin, and Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation, Traian Hristea.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) in cooperation with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is administering a nationwide training program for Precinct Election Commissions (PEC) in advance of the 2013 presidential election. The program targets the nearly 16,000 precinct election commissioners who will serve voters at Armenia’s 1,988 polling stations on Election Day.
Professional election administration training, including processing of voters and vote counting procedures, proper use of ink in voter identification and ballot validation, and introduction of magnifying lenses to assist visually impaired voters, is the main topic covered in the sessions. The nationwide training program is supported by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) with financial assistance from the European Union (EU) as part of its €1.7 million project “Support to Two Electoral Cycles in Armenia.”
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored the preparation program for the 44 trainers recruited by the CEC and IFES to conduct the 649 training sessions being held across the country. The British Embassy in Yerevan is supporting the election administration through donation of the magnifiers for the visually impaired.
Training sessions for the PEC commissioners began on January 28th and will conclude on February 15th.
Election officials receive informational materials to be used for reference during the training and on Election Day itself, including a PEC instructional manual, a set of informational posters to be displayed at polling stations, a copy of the new election code, and a compendium of CEC decisions.
