0 Votes: What Will Happen in Seymnovka and Tsovagyugh

In the local elections, 0 votes were cast from the communities of Seymnovka and Tsovagyugh in Gegharkunik Province. Thus, the residents of the community raised their voices in protest against the amalgamation of communities, writes Hraparak.am.

How did it happen that the villagers decided not to go to the polling station? For instance, Seymnovka village has 300 residents and 195 voters.

The acting mayor from the Prosperous Armenia Party, Davit Mnatsakanyan, commented, “It's the will of the people, there has been no pressure, the people expressed their desire, they do not want to be part of another community, and I said, where you are, I am as well because my residents are wherever they are.”

At the time of our conversation, the mayor of Seymnovka was unaware if there would be a re-vote or not. He stated, “We are waiting for the government's response; the government will decide, I cannot answer that question right now. But if there was no voting, is there a legal provision that allows for the results of the non-voting to be considered without the opinion of the villages?”

We also asked Vahram Gevorgyan, the acting mayor of Tsovagyugh from the Republican Party, if there had been pressures from the electoral commissions or other bodies. He replied, “Is that your opinion, or the government's?” in response to the observation that it is possible their opinion and 0 votes may not be taken into account and the villages may amalgamate. He suggested waiting for the government’s decision.

However, as it became clear, the government accepts the villages' boycott as a fact and that’s it, because, as the chairman of the CEC Tigran Mukuchyan informed Hraparak.am, new extraordinary elections will not be held in Seymnovka and Tsovagyugh.

“Remove the settlements; there is one unified community, which has, let’s say, 35 polling stations, 2 of which received no votes. This is recorded as 0, and this is considered in the overall result calculations; the total indicators of the polling stations are summed up together, right? And if 0 came from 2 sites, it sums up to 0,” said Tigran Mukuchyan.