Defense Ministry Issues Statement

Information is circulating on social media and several media outlets regarding the alleged influence of commanders on soldiers to vote for a specific political force during the snap parliamentary elections on June 20, 2021. The Ministry of Defense is conducting a thorough investigation into all such information.

As of now, the claims made in the existing publications do not correspond to reality. It is evident that the claims about influences are solely based on the fact that soldiers were brought to polling stations in an organized manner. The videos accompanying these publications are evidence of this: the videos simply depict soldiers near polling stations, while the claims about influences are merely assumptions of the authors of these videos, which lack any substantiated argument.

Moreover, no violations related to soldiers voting have been recorded by the election commissions at the polling stations mentioned in the current publications about influences.

It is important to note that bringing conscripts to polling stations in groups is necessitated by the need to organize their movement. Regarding the pre-election process and the actual voting, there is a corresponding order from the Minister of Defense that strictly prohibits conducting pre-election campaigning among soldiers or directing them to vote for any candidate.

We strongly urge to refrain from baseless and unsubstantiated claims regarding soldiers' voting. The Ministry of Defense continues to monitor the voting process in order to examine any reported issues related to the voting of servicemen.

Republic of Armenia Ministry of Defense