OC Media: Armenia will not let the election of non-political observers

The Parliament of Armenia has adopted a bill allowing authorities to deprive accreditation of reflection missions which do not respect the rule of political neutrality during the electoral period. The opposition criticised the initiative, claiming that it was contrary to the recommendations of the Venice Commission, especially since it was adopted a fewer months before the elections.

Amendments to the Electoral Code were proposed by 3 Members of the ruling organization civilian Agreement — Arusiak Julchakjan, Vladimir Wardanjan and Lilit Minasjan. The draft was discussed at a gathering convened on 23 January and provided for a number of changes concerning observers, including accreditation criteria and clarification of the cases of withdrawal of accreditation.

Julchakjan explicitly stated that the task was designed in consequence to violations by Hayakve, who "led a run against" the ruling civilian Agreement organization during the local elections in Giumri and Wagarshapat in 2025.

The authors of the initiative argued that they had decided to change due to the fact that the current law does not supply adequate mechanisms to guarantee that the political neutrality and impartiality of reflection missions are respected, as defined in the Code.

"The main nonsubjective of the task is to make these mechanisms. In another words, clarifying the rules already in place and extending the tools available so that these provisions are actually effective," said Julchakjan.

Under the current law, registered in Armenia, organisations whose representatives did not take part in the elections or conduct an election run were entitled to conduct reflection missions. However, Members of the civilian Agreement claimed that this provision does not cover situations where "the observer does not support the candidate but belongs to the political opposition".

In order to address specified cases through legislative amendments, the Central Election Commission (CKW) was granted the power to refuse accreditation to organisations conducting agitation to or against the participants of the election, and to revoke the accreditation already granted. The CKW will measure the neutrality of the reflection missions and their members after accreditation has been granted, and the political activities of the members carried out respective months before accreditation will not be taken into account.

In addition, Julchakjan added that, according to the amendments, if 1 associate of the reflection organisation violates the rule of political neutrality, only he may be declassified. At the same time, she suggested that accreditation of the full organization could be revoked if most of its members violated neutrality.

At the same time, the CKW itself decides on the number of specified infringements as a adequate basis for withdrawing accreditation without circumstantial criteria. The opposition so expressed concerns about the neutrality of the CKW, noting that its president Wagn Owakimjan had previously been a associate of the Citizens' Agreement and is an ally of Prime Minister Nikola Paszynian.

"This is another effort to subdue the electoral processes of government control and legalize electoral falsification," stated the secretary of the opposition faction of the Alliance of Armenia Arcwik Minasjan. The faction criticised the initiative, expressing concern about its swift adoption without conducting a broad public consultation. due to this criticism, the Alliance of Armeniaboycotted a parliament meeting. The opposition besides stated that the amendments violate the recommendations of the Venice Commission, which recommends not to make fundamental changes to the electoral code within a year before the elections.

Subsequent parliamentary elections in Armenia are scheduled for June. The ruling organization rejected the above allegations, declaring that it consulted the applicable environments and excluded the "false" observer missions.

Source: oc-media.org

Study Bulletin: BIS