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.
Situation in Yerevan and in the regions is relatively calm. Benyamin Poghosyan, a regular contributor to the commonspace.eu website has sent us this update from Yerevan
Armenia elects a new parliament today. Voting in 2008 electoral precincts opened at 8 AM, and voting continues until 8 PM. According to the Central Electoral Commission, 12.2 percent of population voted as of 11 AM. During the previous parliamentary elections, which took place in December 2018, 7.76 percent of voters participated in the elections as of 11 AM. Incumbent Prime Minister Pashinyan and the second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan have already voted.
In the night before the elections thousands of anti-Kocharyan leaflets were distributed in Yerevan streets. Armenia Alliance led by Kocharyan made a special statement calling police to find the perpetuators within several hours; otherwise it would hold the government responsible. Alliance also stated that representatives of its electoral headquarters are being summoned by the police based on false accusations filed against them by the supporters of the incumbent Prime Minister.
During the morning hours there were a few reports of irregularities published on opposition social media channels. They argue that in some precincts outside Yerevan, officers convince soldiers to vote for the “Civic Contract” party led by the incumbent Prime Minister Pashinyan. However, these reports have not been independently verified yet. In general, as of 1 PM Yerevan time, situation is relatively calm in both Yerevan and regions.
The largest mission is that of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE (OSCE-ODIHR).
The ODIHR is headed by Eoghan Murphy, and started its work in Armenia on Friday (18 May). The EOM has a core team of eleven international staff at the head office in Yerevan, drawn from nine OSCE participating States.
For election day the mission joins forces with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA), and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The mission totals 353 observers from 37 countries, including 249 ODIHR-deployed experts, long-term and short-term observers, 80 parliamentarians and staff from the OSCE PA, and 24 from PACE.
"Our observation mission has been operating here for a month now. And this is obviously a very important day for our mission. "We have more than 100 teams deployed across the country to conduct monitoring," Murphy told journalists in Yerevan this morning.
The mission observed all the processes - the registration of voters, candidates, the work of the CEC, studied the country's legislation, as well as the extent to which Armenia has lagged behind its international obligations.
"This is the first observation mission since the outbreak of the coronavirus, in which the OSCE / ODIHR deploys short-term observers. About 200 short-term observers are already stationed here. And this is the first case after the Covid-19 epidemic, "said the head of the mission.
The International Observation Mission will present its preliminary findings tomorrow Monday at 15.00 Yerevan time (1300 Central European Summer Time). We will cover the press conference live on this blog.
We have the first figures of the number of voters in today's Armenian parliamentary elections. In the first three hours of voting the number of voters was 317,291, amounting to 12.2% of those eligible to vote. These figures were released by the Armenian Central Elections Commission. In comparison, in the last elections in 2018, 201,250 voters, or 7.76% of the total number of voters, had voted in the first three hours of polling.