"Strong Armenia": PACE Report - A Victory for Democracy

ArmInfo. Today, the opposition is the guarantor of democracy in Armenia. Gohar Meloyan, a member of the Strong Armenia faction and a constitutional law specialist, stated this during a press conference on September 28, commenting on the report presented by the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Union (PACE) on the parliamentary elections held in Armenia.

This report confirms all our statements, words, and press conferences that the June 7 elections were marred by numerous violations and that this poses a serious threat to democracy, she said, noting that this report is the result of the opposition's painstaking work.

The constitutional law specialist named as one of the most important conclusions of the PACE the fact that the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) was left out of the electoral process due to the fact that the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) did not schedule a repeat vote at several polling stations. According to a representative of Strong Armenia, PACE expressed concern about the bias of the Central Election Commission, citing their ties to the ruling party. "It was noted that by excluding the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) from the electoral process, the Civil Contract secured three-fifths of the mandates in the National Assembly," Meloyan noted.

She also touched upon the bias of the Public Television of Armenia, which was also noted in the PACE report. Specifically, the document states that PTA demonstrated a clear bias in favor of the ruling party and negatively covered the activities of leading opposition parties, while other media outlets consistently covered the government's activities critically.

Meloyan also noted that the principle of equality was violated during the electoral process. In particular, she recalled that Strong Armenia party leader Samvel Karapetyan was denied the opportunity to participate in the pre-election process. According to her, the report also clearly addresses the abuse of public and state resources by the ruling party. Specifically, it touched on holding concerts, introducing a health insurance system, abolishing administrative fines, and more.

During the press conference, representatives of the Strong Armenia party They called the presented PACE report a victory for democracy.

PACE effectively called on Nikol Pashinyan and the authorities to cease the illegal criminal prosecutions initiated against opposition figures, they noted, recalling that several hundred trusted representatives and members of the Strong Armenia party are currently in prison.

It should be noted that the report notes that, according to some calculations, if turnout data at certain polling stations had been taken into account, the Prosperous Armenia party could have overcome the 4% electoral threshold, gained parliamentary mandates, and deprived the ruling party of a three-fifths majority. The Central Election Commission stated in its justification that "the annulment of the results at these polling stations did not affect the overall outcome," and refused to order a re-run of the vote. "This justification is clearly insufficient to support this decision, especially given the significance of its consequences," the document states.