A picture from Tavush province of Armenia. Located northeast of Armenia and bordered by Georgia from the north and Azerbaijan from the east. Constituency 37, polling station N 15 seems to be very active.
The Armenian elections are being closely followed by the diaspora all over the world. The Armenian diaspora in Georgia is a case in point. The following from Arnold Stepanian, Chairman of the Public Movement Multinational Georgia, in Tbilisi.
The Armenian community in Georgia is closely following the ongoing electoral process in Armenia with great interest. The sympathies vary, reflecting trends in Armenia itself, with some supporting the political movement of Nikol Pashinyan, while there are others supporting the parties of the former presidents. Those supporting the second President, Robert Kocharyan, mainly represent a group of people seeking revenge over the Karabakh issue.
The most active part of the Armenian community mostly from the Samtskhe-Javakheti region and Tbilisi, and who have double citizenship have left for Armenia a few days ago in order to get engaged in a pre-election campaign in support of the candidates as well as to cast their votes.
We now have the second update on voter turn-out in today's Armenian parliamentary. At 14.00 (Yerevan), the number of votes cast was 695,626, amounting to 26.82% of those eligible. These figures were released by the Armenian Central Elections Commission.
For comparison, in the last elections in 2018, 636,055 voters, or 24.53% of the total number of voters, had voted around the same time.
Track the numbers here.
Line of voters in front of polling station in #Yerevan #armvote21 pic.twitter.com/UqcVjikxvM
— Gegham Vardanyan (@reporterarm) June 20, 2021
The lack of alternative voting methods remains an issue that has been raised by international experts and civil society.
Voting using a mobile box is provided for those recovering in a medical facility. In this case Precinct Elections Commission members can visit patients with a mobile ballot box. However, the list of names for voting by mobile ballot box must be submitted at the latest 10 days prior to elections day.
In the past, the use of the mobile box was the subject of many accusations of election fraud, and its limited use is welcomed by some.
A recent joint report by IFES-Armenia and Agate NGO, funded by USAID looks at accessibility issues in the Armenian elections.
Read the report here.
The number of covid-19 infections in Armenia has been steadily decreasing but it was still necessary to put some measures in place during election day. International organizations such as The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) have been working closely with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Armenia, offering training and recommendations on how to mitigate pandemic-associated risks.
The Ministry of Health in Armenia has developed a set of hygiene protocols for the purpose of the elections. Yet there are some legal difficulties when it comes to enforcing the face mask rules in polling stations. It is not clear if polling station staff can turn voters away if the voter refused to comply with the health rules. The Armenian constitution says that any changes to core rights such as the right to vote, can only be done through laws passed by Parliament and not by regulations issued by governmental institutions like the CEC or the Ministry of Health.
See the recommendations from IFES here.