Deputy Interior Minister addresses allegations regarding 100,000  passports on election day

ArmInfo. Armen Ghazaryan, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, has addressed claims made by political factions to the Constitutional  Court regarding approximately 100,000 passport-related issues  recorded on election day. 

Speaking to journalists, the Deputy Minister noted that the  plaintiffs raised concerns regarding the use of technical devices to  scan passports at polling stations. He clarified that there were  79,215 instances where polling station staff were required to input  information manually because the machines could not scan the  machine-readable portion of the passport or identification card.

"This is a natural, normal phenomenon, and I can note that this is  the lowest figure recorded in the history of elections in Armenia. If  you look at the 2021 election results, even the Constitutional  Court's decision showed that this figure exceeded 109,000. This could  be for a very simple reason: for example, even the slightest  technical malfunction in a device or ID card could cause a problem  with the machine-readable portion, making it unreadable," the deputy  minister said.

Furthermore, the Deputy Minister emphasized that the primary purpose  of the process is the identification of the voter and the  verification of their right to vote. "The identity document itself  remains the primary instrument for identifying a voter. The technical  device is merely an additional tool and a secondary safeguard  designed to assist in the identification process at the polling  station," he concluded.