Armenian citizens actively participating in elections: turnout  exceeding 187,000 in first hours of polling

ArmInfo.  Armenian citizens are actively participating in the elections: during the first hours of polling stations, voter turnout reached 187,917, as stated by  by  Gohar Meloyan, a representative of the Strong Armenia party,  co-founder of the International Center for the Development of  Parliamentarism, and an expert in constitutional law.

"Such active participation is inspiring. It means our citizens care  about their fate," she noted.  At the same time, the expert noted  with regret that hundreds of reports of electoral process violations  had already been registered by that hour.  "We are looking at both  technical and substantive violations, which indicates that certain  political forces harbor doubts about their victory in the elections,"  Meloyan stated.

According to her, since 07:00 AM, representatives of the opposition  "Strong Armenia" party have been barred from entering a number of  polling stations. Furthermore, alerts have been received regarding  malfunctioning technical equipment and power supply disruptions.   Another category of violations, as noted by the party representative,  involves discrepancies between the receipt numbers issued to voters  and the data specified on the voter logs, despite the fact that this  information is supposed to be synchronized. Meloyan did not rule out  the possibility that such instances could be the result of outside  interference in the electoral process.

In addition, reports have been received indicating that Ballot No. 3  (belonging to the "Strong Armenia" party) has been either defaced or  damaged. According to Meloyan, this could have been done  intentionally to subsequently have those ballots declared invalid.   She also expressed serious concern over the quality of the ballot  envelopes. They are translucent, which, according to the party  representative, violates the citizens' right to a secret ballot.  The  "Strong Armenia" representative also presented video materials which  she claims demonstrate the complete absence of Ballot No. 3 at  certain polling stations.  Meloyan announced that observers from the  "Strong Armenia" party will publish voter turnout data every two  hours.

It is worth noting that the observation mission of the Hayakve  initiative is also registering violations at polling stations.  According to their data, numerous violations have been recorded at  various polling stations during the voting process of the  parliamentary elections, with the most common being instances  violating the principle of a secret ballot and the free expression of  voters' will.

Violations of Ballot Secrecy and Open Voting

Vanadzor (Station 23/51): Voting booths were positioned in front of a  window, allowing outside observers to view the ballots.  Station  3/13: A door located directly behind the voting booth compromised  ballot secrecy. Additionally, an instance of open voting was recorded  at this site.  Stations 8/9 & 8/10: Documented breaches of the secret  ballot principle.  Stations 8/14 & 4/19: Incidents of open voting  were officially recorded.  Station 23/42: Observers submitted  evidence showing voters illegally photographing their marked ballots  inside the booths.

Illegal Campaigning and Party Influence

Goris (Station 34/03): A representative from the ruling Civil  Contract party allegedly instructed a voter requiring assistance to  hide a specific ballot (#3) under a stack of other papers.  Station  35/7: A Civil Contract representative was present inside the station  wearing campaign materials featuring a map of Armenia.  Station  12/61: A voter entered the polling station wearing a cap branded with  the Civil Contract party logo.  Station 10/1: A campaign poster was  found affixed immediately adjacent to the polling station entrance.

Procedural Malpractice and Technical Disruptions

Station 25/08: A citizen was blocked from voting after discovering  that someone had already signed the voter registry next to their  name.  Station 23/53: A monitoring initiative reported that election  workers were collecting ballots in advance, rather than processing  them in the presence of the voter as mandated by law.  Yerevan  (Station 7/35): Voting was temporarily suspended after live video  footage from adjacent station 7/34 disrupted operations.

Logistical Issues and Overcrowding

Stations 23/41 & 7/03: Severe overcrowding was reported, with staff  at station 7/03 noting the physical venue was too small to  accommodate the voter volume.