Carousel voting performed its mission at May 6 parliamentary election in Armenia
arminfo
Tuesday, May 8, 23:13
Carousel voting was fixed at the May 6 parliamentary election, Head of
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCAV) Arthur Sakunts said
at a press conference on Tuesday. He said that 94 observers of HCAV
monitored the voting at the polling stations in Vanadzor, Ijevan,
Gyumri and Yerevan (in constituency No.7) and fixed a great number of
violations there.
“We fixed disappearing ink stamps in the passports ahead of time, as
well as distribution of bribes. The members of the electoral
commissions were unaware of the legislation and managed the election
process poorly, the privacy of the voting was not observed. Carousel
voting was launched, when the first voter casts an empty envelope into
the ballot box and takes the blank ballot paper with himself, and the
following voter brings that ballot paper, which is already marked.
The voters’ rights to freedom of choice were infringed, some voters
tried to vote twice. Moreover, in Gyumri a lot of members of the
electoral commissions refused to perform their observation mission
after the murder of the fiance of Gyumri mayor’s daughter”, Sakunts
said.
He also stressed that the police did not respond to their statements
on the violations during the elections, though the violations were
proved by the relevant video and audio records. “As a result, we have
come to the conclusion that the citizens’ confidence in the electoral
process has not been restored, as no relevant steps have been taken in
this direction”, he said. “The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor
Office does not consider these elections to be free and fair”, Sakunts
said.