What is the Reason for the Presence of Deceased Persons' Names on Voters' Lists? Nelly Davtyan Explains

The head of the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia, Nelly Davtyan, addressed concerns about the presence of deceased individuals' names on the electoral lists published ahead of the Vagarshapat City Council elections.

Davtyan made this statement during a briefing with reporters in Vagarshapat. "The data of deceased individuals are removed from the state population register and correspondingly from the voter lists when the authorized state body has information that the person is deceased. This naturally implies some action, which is for that information to be transferred to the Migration and Citizenship Service in this case. The information is transferred from the Civil Registration Office of the Ministry of Justice. If that information is not available to the Civil Registration Office (ZRAG), and it does not convey it to us, the person will not be removed from the list. This happens in cases where the death is registered outside Armenia, the burial takes place outside the borders, or even regardless of these circumstances if relatives in Armenia do not obtain a death certificate. In that case, the person remains on the list until family members deal with inheritance issues, and that information becomes known to the authorized body.

For this purpose, the police officers of the community have been patrolling addresses to uncover such cases and prepare corresponding reports as per the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs for a considerable time before the elections. However, of course, it is not possible to achieve 100% accurate results because it is manual work, not automated. In addition, we publish preliminary lists 40 days before the election date, and then, a specific time later—specifically on Sunday, November 9—the final lists are published. The purpose of this notification and publication work is to eliminate inaccuracies from the lists," stated Nelly Davtyan.