Local elections in Armenia see gross rights violations

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Gross violations, including the traditional crowding at polling stations, guided votes, as well as presence of unauthorized persons accompanied the recent elections to Armenia’s local government bodies, Transparency International reported.

Lena Nazaryan, an official to the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center, said "numerous violations" which are typical of the Armenian reality were registered at the polls.

The elections which took place in 33 communities throughout Armenia last week once again revealed flaws and irregularities in the voting process, according to observers who monitored the votes.

Europe in Law Association NGO member Tigran Yegoryan confirmed that the attempts of voting instead of another person were regularly registered at the polls.

"There was a citizen who tried to drop three ballot-papers at once into the election box. It was immediately detected and prevented by observers," Yegoryan said, adding that the elections in Armenia have a "universal nature."

As for Yegoryan, Armenia also has a nationwide problem as the elections witnessed a low turnout and lacked seriously in competitiveness in many communities where only one candidate participated.

In view of the violations and irregularities exposed by the observers, the Central Election Commission member Nune Hovhannisyan acknowledged that they did take place.

"I can say unfortunately the irregularities pointed out in the observers' report did take place. The CEC and district committees are informed about them,” Hovhannisyan said.

One of the most vivid lack of fairness witnessed in the Armenian elections is the ruling Republican Party's obvious superiority ahead of and during the elections.

Members from various opposition parties that usually do not participate in local elections claimed that administrative resources have been heavily used in favor of the ruling party candidates in the polls. As a result, voters are systematically deprived of the opportunity to vote for an alternative candidate.

Anahit Bakhshyan, a member of the opposition Hello Yerevan faction in Yerevan’s Council of Elders, said the opposition was reluctant to join the race in local elections, because it is deprived of real opportunities to change the situation. In this case, the ruling party enjoys taking advantage of administrative resources to consolidate its grip on power.

"The authorities know that people are tired of them, but the opposition does not have the resources to actively participate in the elections," said Bakhshyan.

Bakshyan called the existing environment repellant and provocative.

Protection of human rights remains a problematic issue in Armenia. Influential human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized the traditional violation of civil liberties in the country.

According to Amnesty International, human rights violations have been prevalent almost at every national election in Armenia. Ten people were killed in the 2008 post-election protests, while the presidential elections in February 2013 saw numerous irregularities, including violence against observers by local officials.