Artur Sakunts: CEC prepares the ground for questioning election results (video)
Numerous observers have arrived in Armenia to follow the April 2 elections in the country. The Citizen Observer Initiative will also have its representatives at the polling stations across the country. “We shall field 3400 observers at 1500 polling stations and provide unprecedented oversight of the April 2 parliamentary elections. Also, we shall have 150 operators in our centre who will register information received from our observers,” says Lusine Hakobyan, one of the members of the initiative. Several days ago, the Transparency International Anticorruption Centre published 176 facts about inaccuracies revealed in the run-up to the April 2 polls. Varuzhan Hoktanyan, Executive Director of Transparency International Armenia, said the Office of the Prosecutor General had asked them for more information about the violations. “We were surprised, but happy.” Daniel Ioannissyan, Head of the Independent Observer NGO, says they will have 200 observers at 400 polling stations. Human rights activist Artur Sakunts says the Central Electoral Commission did not address the concerns [about violations and inaccuracies] in a due way. “The CEC is demonstrating inactivity in assessing electoral fraud,” he said. Artur Sakunts especially called attention to the abuse of administrative resources, cases of violence and hidden vote buying. He added that the with its behaviour the CEC prepares the ground for questioning election results.
