Section 159Sec./Art. 159

Official Watchers of the Candidates. -

(a) All political parties duly registered through their duly authorized officials or representatives, duly registered with the Commission, shall be entitled to not more than six watchers each in every polling place and independent candidates shall be entitled to one watcher each. All watchers shall be of legal age and not disqualified for any of the grounds for disqualification mentioned in Section one hundred forty-seven of this Code. The duly authorized officials of the political parties entitled to watchers shall choose in each province, city, municipality or municipal district their respective representative authorized to appoint watchers.

(b) Upon entering the polling place, the watcher shall present and deliver to the chairman of the board of inspectors his appointment and forthwith his name shall be recorded in the minutes. To entitle him to be admitted in the polling place, the appointment of the watcher shall bear the personal signature or the facsimile signature of the registered candidates who appointed him, or the personal signature or facsimile signature of the authorized representative of the party to which said watcher belongs.

(c) The watchers shall have the right to stay in the space reserved for them inside the polling place. They shall have the right to witness and inform themselves of the proceedings of the board, to take notes of what they may see or hear, to file a protest against any irregularity which they believe may have been committed by the board of inspectors, to obtain from the poll clerk a certificate as to the filing of such protest or of the resolution thereon, and to read the ballots after they have been read by the chairman as well as the election returns after they have been completed and signed by the members of the board, without touching them, but they shall not speak to any member of the board.