Election observers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have praised the conduct of the electoral process in Armenia.
Ilkhom Nematov, the head of the CIS observation mission, said the mission visited about 700 polling stations in Yerevan and regions on election day (20 June). He has confirmed that the mission considers the early elections of the Armenian National Assembly to have been held in accordance with the Armenian Constitution and Electoral Code, and were open and constructive.
Another member of the observer mission, Kanybek Imanaliev, noted that one drawback was that in some polling stations, there was not a single observer from any of the 25 political forces participating in the elections.
photo: Ilkhom Nematov, head of the CIS observation mission in Armenia
The Armenia Alliance bloc led by former president Robert Kocharyan issued a statement disputing the results of the elections stating that they are “highly controversial and do not inspire confidence”.
The statement says:
“The results are in conflict with various manifestations of public life that we have witnessed over the past eight months, with the results of public opinion polls, including the ones conducted by international organizations and finally, with simple common sense. The large campaign rallies of the opposition, the small number of people attending the gatherings organized by the ruling power and the crisis of confidence signaled a completely different mood in the country. One of the most serious reasons for the lack of confidence/trust were the hundreds of calls coming from different polling stations on election day about the systemic, pre-planned falsification of election results.
"Considering the above-mentioned, the Armenia Alliance prioritizes the in-depth and substantiated investigation into all of the registered and alleged violations, which they will start doing immediately. As long as all the problematic issues have not received comprehensive explanations and the suspicions have not been dispelled, the Armenia Alliance will not accept the election results.”
The Armenia Alliance said that it would wait until all electoral violations are investigated.
Good morning,
We are pleased to start again our live blog with the preliminary results provided by the Armenian Central Electoral Commission. The results show Civil Contract, led by Nikol Pashinyan, to have won with 53.92% of the vote, with the second president Robert Kocharyan's Armenia Alliance taking 21.04% and the party led by Artur Vanetsyan and supported by the third president, Serzh Sargsyan, taking 5.23%. No other parties qualified for parliament.
Please see here the full preliminary results:
The Armenian Central Elections Commission (CEC) has provisionally announced that 1,281,174 votes were cast in today’s elections, constituting 49.4% of those eligible. This is slightly more than the 1,260,840 (48.62%) of votes in the 2018 parliamentary election.
A more thorough breakdown is available here on the CEC website.
The counting process is now taking place. This picture is from constituency 2, polling station 10 in Yerevan.
Reflecting on today’s vote, commonspace.eu's political editor wrote:
The voting has closed. The Armenian people have voted, and the election process appeared to be reasonably well organised and transparent. Now the counting process starts, and often it is here that problems are encountered. These elections, however, may not be conclusive. If no party wins an outright majority of more than fifty per cent, then a process of coalition building will have to start. If within six days of the publication of the official results a coalition is not formed, the election will have to be re-run in four weeks’ time with only the two largest parties on the ballot paper. Many Armenians hope to be spared this uncertainty. The next few hours will tell us what will happen. In the meantime, Armenia’s neighbours are also watching the process. What happens in this election may define the future of peace in the region.
At 20.00 (Yeveran), the polls officially close in the 20 June 2021, Armenian early parliamentary elections.
Polling in Armenia's early parliamentary elections closes in less than an hour's time. Despite some isolated incidents, the day has passed largely peacefully. Many hope things stay that way.
Writing from Tbilisi, Arnold Stepanian, Chairman of the Public Movement Multinational Georgia said that the Armenians of Georgia share the common view that whatever the choice of the Armenian citizens is, the results must be accepted by all political forces. Civil resistance caused by political polarization must not escalate into street resistance! Despite the diametrically opposed positions of the current government and the opposition, the wisdom of the leaders of the main political actors should play a role in ensuring that the process remains peaceful.
