UIC: re-vote needed locally or nationwide

PanARMENIAN.Net - A repeat vote should be held either in polling stations where results were invalidated or across the entire country, Daniel Ioannisyan, coordinator of the Union of Informed Citizens NGO, said while commenting on the results of the June 7 elections, according to Pastinfo.

The voting results at polling stations 10/51 in Yerevan’s Nubarashen district, 12/13 in Abovyan village of the Artashat community, and 35/65 in Agarak town of the Meghri community were declared invalid, but no repeat voting was conducted. Seeking to raise the issue before international judicial bodies, Ioannisyan has appealed to voters from those polling stations.

Ioannisyan said applications have already been received but did not specify the number of applicants, noting that the submissions are being handled directly by lawyers.

“Our task is naturally not to bring the claims of all those thousands of people to the European Court of Human Rights. Our task is to take several individuals and initiate a legal process on their behalf so that, ultimately, the European Court of Human Rights presents a legal position on this matter,” Ioannisyan said.

Responding to a question about whether a small number of applicants or the isolated nature of the cases could lead to inadequate consideration and cast a shadow over the entire process, Ioannisyan said he does not consider it likely that the European Court of Human Rights would fail to conduct a proper examination simply because the number of applicants is limited.

In his assessment, the need for repeat voting follows directly from Article 101 of the Electoral Code, and by not taking that step, the Central Electoral Commission violated the law.

“We are submitting an advisory opinion to the Constitutional Court in which we believe a nationwide repeat vote should take place,” Ioannisyan said.

On June 14, the final results of the June 7 parliamentary elections were published. Civil Contract received 726,819 votes, or 49.7456 percent. Strong Armenia received 340,006 votes, or 23.2710 percent, while the Hayastan Alliance secured 144,983 votes, or 9.9231 percent. The Prosperous Armenia Party failed to pass the 4 percent electoral threshold, receiving 58,287 votes, or 3.9893 percent.

Civil Contract will hold 64 parliamentary seats, including three allocated to national minority representatives. Strong Armenia will have 29 seats, including one Assyrian representative, while the Hayastan Alliance will hold 12 seats.