Strong Armenia: Around 700 members of our political party were  detained during the pre-election period

ArmInfo.  Gohar Meloyan, a member of the Strong Armenia bloc and a legal expert, has presented the main violations recorded by her team in the run-up to and during the regular parliamentary elections in Armenia on June 7.

As Meloyan reported at a press conference in Yerevan on June 10,  according to their preliminary estimates, around 700 members of their  party were detained during the pre-election period, including elderly  women who were not even actively involved in their political party's  activities. She expressed her belief that such actions were intended  to intimidate their supporters, since, as Meloyan noted, people were  typically released without any consequences after being detained.  "Moreover, in many cases, lawyers were not allowed to see those  detained for several hours, which effectively violated their legal  rights. Criminal complaints were filed in a number of such cases. In  rule-of-law states, there is a clearly established procedure: if  there are reasonable suspicions against a person, they are first  notified and then summoned for questioning," the bloc member said.

Moreover, as the legal expert noted, arrests most often occurred  after large meetings between their bloc representatives and voters in  villages and cities. "The very next day, law enforcement agencies  conducted searches of party headquarters, detained people, and  organized searches of their apartments. All of this had the specific  goal of creating an atmosphere of fear in populated areas," the  "Strong Armenia" bloc member expressed confidence.

Furthermore, as Meloyan noted, their political force managed to build  an effective monitoring system at polling stations to oversee the  voting process. According to her, not one, but three lines of proxies  were organized at each of the 2,005 polling stations for this  purpose. "However, given the party's level of preparation, the  authorities began detaining these people. Furthermore, dozens of  candidates on the party list were subjected to persecution, and  various preventive measures were taken against them. And the entire  chain of events we had established fell apart. Moreover, this chain  of violations continues to this day. The Central Election Commission  continues to grant petitions regarding the persecution of candidates  from our political party," Meloyan noted.

The legal expert also called for attention to expanding the powers  and funding of law enforcement agencies during the pre-election  period, as well as to expanding the scope of violations. In her view,  this situation is abnormal and stems from a desire to turn the law  enforcement system into a tool for serving a political agenda.  Meloyan also pointed to the abuse of administrative resources.  According to her, during the election campaign, the party's hotline  received thousands of calls, and work is currently underway to  process all received applications. "Most of the complaints concerned  pressure on civil servants to vote for the Civil Contract party,  demands to submit a Strong Armenia bloc ballot and provide  confirmation of their choice," the legal expert explained.

Meloyan also reported numerous problems with the preliminary voter  lists. She stated that even those citizens who checked their  information in advance discovered on election day that they were not  included in the lists at the appropriate polling stations. Thus, she  believes, artificial obstacles were being created to citizens' right  to vote. "Another problem was the unexpected change in the addresses  of polling stations.  While citizens were previously informed of such  changes in advance, this was not the case this time," the bloc member  noted.

Meloyan also condemned the authorities' decision to hold a wine  festival in Yerevan from June 5 to 7, immediately before the  elections. She believes that state bodies should ensure maximum  accessibility to voters on election day. "In this regard, the party  filed a complaint with the Central Election Commission, which was  accepted for consideration. However, the streets where the festival  was held remained closed, creating additional difficulties for some  voters visiting the polling stations," Meloyan stated. She also  recalled the existence of numerous video recordings, which, according  to her, document instances of officials interfering with the voting  process. Specifically, Meloyan noted that at several polling  stations, village heads and municipal employees attempted to direct  voters, constantly intervened in the process, and removed ballots  numbered 3 or those of other political parties. Meloyan also recalled  her previously reported data regarding abrupt changes in the number  of voters, as well as discrepancies between the Migration and  Citizenship Service lists and the Central Electoral Commission list.

Then, the Strong Armenia bloc member presented videos showing  election commission members approaching ballot bags and placing or  removing items from them. "Some footage also shows missing ballots  and commission members filling out important documents in pencil,  which is prohibited by regulations because it allows for subsequent  alteration. The sharp increase in invalid ballots is also concerning.  While in 2018 there were 4,706, in 2021 there were 4,593, in 2026  there were 17,097," Meloyan noted.

She also described cases where ballots with slight creases were  invalidated. However, she noted that there were also opposite  examples: ballots with serious damage were declared valid. She added  that these ballots were often declared invalid due to minor defects.  "An additional problem was the malfunction of the voter fingerprint  identification devices. Despite this, polling stations continued to  operate, which is a serious violation. There were also instances of  commission members moving ballot boxes beyond the range of  surveillance cameras, depriving observers of the opportunity to  monitor the proceedings," the bloc member noted.

Meloyan also commented on statements by representatives of the Civil  Contract party that the recount only improved their position.  According to her, the reality is different, and their political  party's vote share has declined following the recount. "Furthermore,  there were cases of military personnel voting twice: first at regular  polling stations, and then at military units using their military ID  cards. The party is preparing a detailed report on all of these  incidents. However, in reality, the Central Election Commission is  obligated to respond to such reports itself, given that the media is  also reporting on all of this. Ensuring the legality and proper  conduct of the electoral process is the direct constitutional  responsibility of the CEC," Meloyan concluded.