Incident of Ballot Papers Being Taken Out in Vanadzor, Violation of Observer Rights in Ashtarak - "Independent Observer"

The "Independent Observer" mission has been monitoring local self-government elections conducted by proportional representation in 36 communities across the Aragatsotn, Ararat, Armavir, Gegharkunik, Lori, Kotayk, Shirak, Vayots Dzor, and Tavush regions since 7:00 AM on December 5, 2021. The mission announced this in a statement.

Specifically, the statement states: "About 390 observers from the mission are following the election process. The observers are distributed across polling stations that exhibited various behaviors during the June 20 parliamentary elections, as well as visiting other polling stations and observing the overall atmosphere and situation in the communities through patrols. Mobile observer groups have also monitored commission meetings at additional polling stations.

Below we present statistical results regarding the observation period of commission meetings at 168 polling stations and incidents recorded by the mission's lawyers and mobile groups until 12:00 PM:

Out of the 168 polling centers observed, 9 had their electoral commission meetings start 10-20 minutes late from the scheduled start at 7:00 AM due to delays by commission members and the resulting lack of quorum. In 4 of the polling stations observed, the voting rooms were located in the basement, and in 15 cases, on the second floor.

24 polling centers were assessed as absolutely inaccessible, lacking ramps and wide entrances, and free movement was not possible in the voting room and voting booth. There were no special measures in 19 of the observed polling stations for individuals with visual impairments to vote independently. Lighting was deemed insufficient in 10 voting rooms.

In 8 of the observed polling stations, the responsibilities of the commission were not distributed by lot; in one case, the draw was conducted for only one shift, and in another, it was conducted the day before. In 7 polling stations, voting booths were set up less than 1 meter away from the wall, or there was an open area behind the voting booths that could reveal the voter's choice.

The presence of police officers without the right to be present in the voting room was recorded in 4 polling stations; in 5 polling stations, there were multiple authorized representatives from the same party registered. Notably, in only 15 of the observed polling stations were there representatives from any of the competing forces.

It is remarkable that in 4 polling stations, the number of ballots was less than the number of voters. An incident of removing a ballot paper from the voting room was reported in 2 polling stations. The "Independent Observer" continues to monitor the election process through observers at voting stations and mobile monitoring groups.