Voter Participation in Democratic Elections is Low, Says CEC President

Throughout the day, we have not had any incidents at the polling stations. We have had free and peaceful elections. This was stated by the Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission, Vahagn Hovakimyan, in an interview with News.am.

When discussing the objective reasons for the low voter turnout, Vahagn Hovakimyan said, “If we look at the experience of the world, participation in free and democratic elections is generally low compared to other countries where elections are not deemed free and democratic, because freedom and democracy imply that a person freely decides whether to vote or not. If they simply do not wish to, they do not go. Many young people may not be interested in the elections. Look at the experience of democratic countries; their voter turnout rates are low.”

It should be noted that as of 20:00, out of 824,250 voters in the 2023 Yerevan City Council elections, 324,553 citizens, or 28.46%, participated, according to the CEC. In the same period during the 2018 city council elections, 370,323 citizens (43.65%) participated. In 2017, 245,226 citizens (40.99%) participated.