Secrecy of ballot not ensured at 4/25 Polling Station
All election observation groups have registered violations in Sunday's Council of Elders election in Yerevan.
Avetik Ishkhanyan, Chairman of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia, observed queues gatherings in almost all polling stations, with the police standing idle. Besides, there were attempts to interfere with the work of observers and journalists.
"Numerous instances of unknown people present at polling stations were reported. In Davtashen community a group of people voted in a number of polling stations at a time. A citizen came to the polling station to find that someone else had already given his name and voted for him," he said.
The members of Transparency International NGO observed the election process in some 113 polling stations in Erebuni, malatia and Shengavit communities. Deputy head of the organization's Armenian chapter, Sona Ayvazyan, says the NGO is going to file 40 complaints with electoral commissions.
"There have been numerous attempts to obstacle journalists' work. Threats and psychological pressure was observed starting from the morning. District authorities tried to interfere in some polling stations ‘in order to correct the situation.' Crowds of people were driven to polling stations in buses and "guided" in voting, while the police remained neutral," she said.
Naira Arakelyan, President of Armavir Development Center NGO, added that secrecy of the ballot was not ensured at 4/ 25 Polling Station.
