Limitation on number of journalists and observers at polling stations removed
Davit Harutyunyan, Minister - Chief of RA Government Staff today presented the results and the stance of the authorities in the 4+4+4 meeting held with the opposition and the civil society. Vice President of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) Levon Zurabyan and Chairman of “Europe in Law Association” NGO Tigran Yegoryan are also taking part in the meeting. Davit Harutyunyan presented the model, which the authorities want to present to the National Assembly and also alternative versions, as well as those offers by the opposition, which have been accepted or not during the 4+4+4 meetings. He notes that the authorities refused colorful ballots, “Let me start from the end, there will be an envelope with a cut corner, self-adhesive stamps- specific for each polling station. It will be stuck on a ballot, which can be seen from the cut corner of the envelope. Which is its appeal? Member of the committee, who is responsible for the ballot box, must return stamps and the coupons of the ballot paper in a relevant number at the end of the day.” Davit Harutyunyan announced that they had partially accepted the opposition’s offer to have two lists of those, who are in Armenia or absent, “Representative of each party can form such lists for himself and there may be also an electronic version, and during the voting the device can give an additional signal if that person is allegedly absent from the republic.” He noted that the authorities didn’t accept the electoral ink, “But we have a counter-offer; each voter will leave its fingerprint in the device, and on the next day those fingerprints will be collected and it must be implemented in the presence of representatives from all the parties. They will be combined and will be put into the central server and we will be able to know whether there are voters, whose fingerprints are repeated. As for the soldiery, I can say, that it’s true, their list is secret, but in order to dispel the doubts about the electoral fraud, the soldiery will also leave their fingerprints and at the end it will be clear whether there are coincidences or not.” Davit Harutyunyan said that they didn’t accept the publication of signed voter lists unequivocally. As for the participation of observer organizations, he thinks, that they must have at least five years experience in a relevant activity, “As for the limitation on the number of media representatives at polling stations, I can say, that the limitation of eight has been removed, but if there is such a large crowd at a polling station, which can hinder the normal course of elections, the chairman of the commission can limit the number of media representatives by 2/3, though, the minimum number of media representatives at a polling station must be 15. To add, the number of trustees has been increased- each party can have two trustees hereafter.”
