The “Eyewitness” observation mission summarized the preliminary results of the monitoring of the parliamentary elections in Armenia, recording the competitive and peaceful atmosphere of the voting in the context of some procedural violations.

During the June 8 press conference, the executive director of the Transparency International anti-corruption center Sona Ayvazyan reported that 648 observers followed the election process throughout the country. Most of them were on permanent duty in 260 precincts, which is about 13 percent of the total. The evaluation was carried out using the methodology of random sampling, which allows for an objective idea of ​​the quality of voting at the national level based on statistical data. As an additional support, more than fifty roving groups were also involved, which responded to hotline alarms, and a separate observation group established control in six penitentiary institutions.

According to the general assessment of the mission, the elections were marked by high citizen activity and took place in dynamic conditions. Nevertheless, negative incidents were also recorded, in which representatives of various political forces and alliances were involved.

Genya Petrosyan, director of the “Rights Development and Protection Fund”, detailed the emerging problems, pointing out cases of late opening of sites and defects in furnishing. In particular, in some places, the voting booths were placed in such a way that the principle of voting confidentiality was violated. Human rights defenders have also documented attempts to direct voters, organize transport and control the process, which inevitably had a certain impact on the overall quality of the electoral process.

According to the data of the Central Electoral Commission, the “Civil Contract” party led by Nikol Pashinyan won a convincing victory, receiving 49.81 percent of the votes. The second place was taken by Samvel Karapetyan’s “Strong Armenia” bloc with 23.29 percent of the votes, while the “Armenia” bloc led by former president Robert Kocharyan rounded out the top three with 9.94 percent of votes. Gagik Tsarukyan’s “Prosperous Armenia” party managed to secure the support of a little less than 4 percent of voters.

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