Printing Errors Do Not Render Ballots Invalid, Mukuchyan Responds to 'Armenia' Alliance

In case of possible printing issues on ballots, those ballots will not be considered invalid. This was stated by Tigran Mukuchyan, the chairman of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Armenia, in an interview with 'Hetq', responding to concerns raised by representatives of the 'Armenia' alliance led by former President Robert Kocharian. They had pointed out that there are printing notations on the ballots numbered 24, which could lead to their invalidation.

“70 million ballots have been printed, and it is possible that there are some defects among them. The commissions have been alerted, and they are trying to segregate all those ballots. However, it is clear that any notation or marking should relate to an attempt by the voter to identify their vote. Therefore, for the CEC, the concern should indeed be to summarize the election results in accordance with the Electoral Code,” said Mukuchyan.

He emphasized that regardless of which political force the ballot belongs to, if a printing defect is discovered, it will be deemed a valid ballot unless it contains specific markings of a different nature.