OBSERVERS REGISTERED VIOLATIONS

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Although we had condemned the violent measures taken to solve electoral debates and called on the candidates to secure the legality of elections and maintain tolerance, there were illegalities and some violence during the recent local government elections. This was the concluding remark made by the “Choice is Yours” NGO observatory mission in the aftermath of the September 28 local government elections in Kentron, Nor Nork, Nork Marash, Avan, Davtashen and Shengavit districts.

“The observers noticed violations especially in the Kentron district. There was a lot of electoral fraud and the intervention of reputable district residents. The observers registered low voter turnout and that gets us to thinking that both candidates were not well-known among citizens,” said “The Choice is Yours” NGO president Harutyun Hambartsumian.

In fact, Harutyunyan listed the violations that he had noticed, such as electoral fraud, influence on voters, limits on observers’ rights and disorder in the polls. For example, an open vote took place in the Nork Marash 10/03 poll. As a result of one of the fillings of ballots by Kentron district community head candidate Gagik Beglaryan’s supporters in the 10/03 poll of the Kentron district, a debate began between the proxies and the local government elections committee members and then turned into a fight.

In any case, could the electoral fraud and fillings have an influence on the outcome? In response to that, Harutyun Hambartsumyan said: “There is a huge difference in votes and I wouldn’t say that the number of mistakes could have an influence on the elections as a whole. We have registered all of the polls where ballot fillings have taken place and any interested candidate and his proxies can appeal to the court to find out just how many fillings there were.”