Amsterdam & Partners LLP, international counsel to Strong Armenia leader Samvel Karapetyan, today expresses further concern regarding widespread electoral violations and procedural irregularities that materially affected the outcome of Armenia's parliamentary elections.
The statement follows formal challenges by all major opposition parties to the election results, and comes amid growing scrutiny of the conduct of the electoral process, including substantiated allegations of abuse of administrative resources and the use of law enforcement bodies against opponents of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who secured less than half the vote but is due to remain in power due to the country's electoral threshold rule that prevented smaller opposition parties from entering parliament.
Approximately 100,000 votes cast in favour of the ruling Civil Contract party are reported to have been processed through manual data entry rather than standard passport verification procedures, raising serious questions regarding their validity. Were these votes properly scrutinised, the outcome of the election could have been materially affected.
Additional concern has been expressed regarding the decision of the Central Electoral Commission, the head of which is a former member of the ruling party, to invalidate the results of electoral precincts without ordering repeat voting, despite standards requiring that new elections be held in precincts where results have been annulled. Members of the military voting after close of polls, suspiciously in precincts where the opposition was performing best, has been cited as a reason for annulment. The exclusion of these precincts prevented a third opposition party from entering Parliament by a margin of just thirty votes, significantly altering the composition of the National Assembly and depriving voters of representation to which they are legally entitled.
These events should not be viewed as isolated incidents but rather as a broader pattern that undermined the integrity of the electoral process and distorted the result.
Robert Amsterdam, Founder and Managing Partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP, states:
"Substantiated allegations of electoral fraud emerging from these elections are deeply troubling. They extend far beyond ordinary disputes over electoral administration and instead point to conduct that likely affected both the fairness of the process and the composition of the future Parliament.
Particularly concerning is the abuse of administrative resources, the deployment of law enforcement against opposition forces, serious questions regarding data entry, and the refusal to hold repeat elections where electoral results were annulled.
Democracy depends not only on the casting of ballots but on public confidence that electoral rules are applied equally and lawfully. A thorough, transparent and independent investigation is warranted, especially when states supporting the Armenian government claim to uphold democracy.
The outrageous and unbalanced conduct of Prime Minister Pashinyan, threatening violence against political opponents, let alone the bringing of fraudulent criminal charges, highlights the West's support of form over substance. This behaviour, combined with foreign electoral interference, seeming to legitimise the criminal conduct of the ruling party, may itself form a subject matter of litigation in the future."
Amsterdam & Partners LLP is an international law firm specialised in political advocacy and human rights, based in London and Washington, DC. For more information, please visit www.amsterdamandpartners.com. Media enquiries may be directed to contact@amsterdamandpartners.com.
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