Two top court Justices disqualified from election dispute hearing

In proceedings concerning challenges to the June 7 parliamentary election results, the Constitutional Court has decided that two Justices should be recused due to potential issues of perceived bias, while also defining the parties and respondents involved in the case.

The court, in particular reviewing the motion filed by the New Power party, ruled that Justices Artak Zeynalyan and Vladimir Vardanyan should be recused and won’t take part in the examination of the case, as they “have a biased attitude toward a party to the proceedings, its representative, and other participants in the proceedings.”

The Constitutional Court has also decided to involve the “Civil Contract” party in the case as a third party.

The Constitutional Court has further ruled to include the Central Electoral Commission as a respondent, and the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia as co-respondents.

Armenia’s Constitutional Court will hold a single hearing on June 26 to consider challenges filed by seven political parties and alliances seeking to annul the results of the country’s June 7 parliamentary election, the court said earlier on Monday.

Justice Edgar Shatiryan has been appointed as the rapporteur in the case.

The motions to annul the results, citing alleged fraud, were filed by the Strong Armenia bloc, Wings of Unity party, Democracy, Law and Order party, Prosperous Armenia party, the Rally for the Republic party, the Armenia Alliance, and the New Power Reformist Party.

Only three political forces entered parliament, according to the Central Electoral Commission’s final results.

According to the commission, the Civil Contract party won 49.7% of the vote, securing a majority in the next parliament, while the Strong Armenia bloc came in second with 23.2%. The Armenia Alliance won 9.9%.