Serious Dangerous Interventions Are Occurring Against Local Government Officials: RA Human Rights Defender

The recent actions regarding local self-government bodies are fraught with profound dangers to the foundation of democracy — the right to vote and to be elected. This was stated by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, on his Facebook page.

“Serious dangerous interventions are taking place against local government officials elected by the primary vote of Armenian citizens through political and law enforcement processes, and the public is either not provided with proper explanations or not provided with explanations at all. Everything is primarily concealed under the guise of either ‘political processes’ or ‘criminal proceedings,’ creating dangerous precedents.

I remind everyone that the right to vote and to be elected in local self-government elections is guaranteed by Article 48 of the RA Constitution and Armenia’s international obligations. Electoral rights are the foundation of the formation of democracy and that is the end of the story,” wrote the Human Rights Defender.