The Independent Observer, a Western-funded coalition of three such groups, accused the Central Election Commission (CEC) of illegally giving Civil Contract several more seats in Armenia’s new parliament.

“We didn’t expect the CEC to break the law to such an extent,” said the Independent Observer coordinator, Daniel Ioannisian.

The CEC controversially scrapped last week vote results in three precincts, preventing the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) from clearing a 4 percent legal threshold for having parliament seats. The commission refused to order a rerun of the elections in those precincts when it approved the final results on Sunday.

As a result, the ruling party will have a more comfortable parliamentary majority required for enacting key laws and installing senior law-enforcement officials and judges. Armenian opposition leaders accused the CEC of deliberately making sure that the BHK is not represented in the National Assembly.

Vahagn Hovakimian, a longtime Pashinian collaborator heading the CEC, did not deny that when he explained the decision in a statement issued on Monday. Hovakimian said that a repeat election in the three precincts would have led to “tactical voting,” presumably by supporters of other opposition forces keen to help the BHK enter the parliament. He claimed that this would have given then an unfair advantage over other voters who did not know on June 7 “what impact their vote would have on the final outcome.”

Ioannisian brushed aside the explanation, arguing that the BHK already won on June 7 enough votes in the three polling stations to clear the 4 percent threshold. He insisted that the CEC decision runs counter to the Armenian Electoral Code. The new parliament will lack legitimacy unless the Constitutional Court will overturns the decision, added Ioannisian.

The BHK as well as the opposition Hayastan and Strong Armenia blocs, which did much better in the polls, are planning to appeal to the court. Their leaders seem skeptical about the outcome of their appeal, mindful of the fact eight of the court’s nine justices have been installed by Pashinian’s party.

A representative of another vote-monitoring group, Akanates (Eyewitness), also criticized the CEC for not re-running the elections in the three rural precincts.

“I find that decision very controversial first and foremost in terms of public trust in the electoral process and in terms of the legitimacy of the elections,” Meri Minasian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

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