Information for Domestic, International and Political Entity Agent Observers

 

All the nongovernmental organizations, guilds and unions and committees (local and international) may request to register at the IHEC to be accredited as observers organizations, and all the observers must have the following conditions:

a)       Be at least 18 years of age at the day on which his or her name was submitted on the IHEC Form 132;

b)       Not be a candidate in the present elections or a registered political entity agent.

c)       Not be an active member of any police, military or security force;

d)       present proper documentation to the Observer Organization, which include the following:

-          confirmation of his or her residence status (residence card, ration card, confirmation letter from the local council)

-          Iraqi national ID Number or copy of the Public Distribution System receipt or IDP Status Certificate.

What are the procedures of Accreditation of Domestic organization?

1-      Each applying Non Governmental Organization must be registered in the Assistance Office for NGOs or the NGO Register of the Ministry of Civil Society Affairs or the NGO Register of the Ministry of Planning.

2-      Organizations should produce their registration documents

3-      Submitting the IHEC FORM 131 and IHEC FORM 132 issued by the IHEC to the GEO that the organization wants to observe in its governorate.

4-      The IHEC will issue a decision to accredit an observation organization within duration not more than 3 days of the request submission date.

What is the Code of Conduct for Domestic Observers?

The Code of Conduct for the Electoral Observers is an official document produced by the IHEC.  It can be found here. 

Additional Information:

1-       The accreditation of the observers must be according to the procedures issued by IHEC law No. 11 year 2008 and regulation No. 3 year 2008 the elections and referendums observers.

2-       No accredited observers within the observers organizations teams work as accredited media representatives or political entities agents or candidates at the same time.

3-       The total number of observers accredited by the Observer Team in each governorate cannot exceed the number of Polling Stations in the Governorate.

II. International Observers

International organizations and Non-Governmental organizations with an international scope can apply for accreditation and registration directly with IHEC HQ in Baghdad by contacting the Observer Accreditation Unit via email: observers@ihec-iraq.com.

Interested organizations can also contact Hakam Shahwan on hakam.shahwan@undp.org for further information or general enquiries.

Who can register as international observer?

1-        There are two types of international observers:

a)       Type one: People living outside and either they are assigned to observe directly or on the behalf of their governments or the international organizations.

b)       Type two:  People living inside Iraq but they represent international organizations or embassy or councils working in Iraq.  .

 What are the procedures of Accreditation of international observer?

One can follow the same procedures mentioned above concerning Domestic Observers.  Additionally, the International Observer should provide documentation which allows the verification of their international status, instead of the Iraqi registration documents. Such documentation needs to be produced in any official language of Iraq or in English.  Forms for accreditation are IHEC FORM 131e and IHEC FORM 132e. 

What is the Code of Conduct for International Observers?

The Code of Conduct for the Electoral Observers is an official document produced by the IHEC.  It can be found here

In addition the United Nations in 2005 collated international standard to which the IHEC anticipates all international observation groups to uphold.  It can be found here. 

Additional Information:

Registration and Accreditation of the International Observer Organizations will be conducted in the IHEC National Office and the Kurdistan Regional Electoral Office only.

III. Political Entity Agent Observers

Only Certified Political Entity can accredit the Political Entity Agents. There is no provision for the individual political entities to accredit agents

Who can be registered as Political Entity Agents?

In order to be accredited as a Political Entity Agent must:

a)       Be at least 18 years of age at the day of accreditation.

b)   Legally competent.

c)   Not be a candidate in the present elections or an accredited observer.

d)  Not be an active member of any police, military or security force

What are the procedures of Accreditation of Political Entity Agents?

1-       Political Entity must submit the list of their Agents in each governorate where they wish to observe electoral process, but this governorate must be one of the governorate in which the PE submit their candidate list.

2-       For the purpose of Accreditation, all Political Entities must submit to the IHEC Accreditation Officer the following set of documents:

a)       Photocopy of the Political Entity Certificate issued by IHEC. Political Entity Coalitions needs to present copy of the IHEC Certificate for the Coalition.

b)       IHEC FORM 134 for Political Entity Contact Person details and badges allocation in the Governorate

c)       IHEC FORM 135 for the Accreditation of the Political Entity Agents in the governorate

What is the Code of Conduct for Political Entity Agent Observers?

The Code of Conduct for the political entities agents is an official document produced by the IHEC.  It can be found here.

Additional Information:

The total number of Political Entity Agents by the Entity accredited in each governorate cannot exceed the number of Polling Stations in the Governorate.