Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office registers numerous violations

• Monday, February 18, 17:31

On Feb 18 Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCAV) is observing the presidential election in Armenia. As of 12:00, the organization stated that some polling stations failed to ensure the secrecy of ballot. HCAV also points out ballot stuffing, open agitation and other violations, which are made by the members of the presidential candidate Serzh Sargsyan's team.

In particular, at 9:30 am near kindergarten No.30 the HCAV observers noticed a crowd of voters, who had already voted and were standing near a car (state number - 21 SU 880) and expecting to receive something from the people in the car. (91, Shinararneri Str., Vanadzor). The observers registered cases of ballot stuffing at the polling stations 31/05, 32/05, 32/14. Moreover, the Central Electoral Commission called and rebuked the observer for making that information public. A case of bribery was registered at the polling station 29/25.

6 cases of open ballot were fixed at the polling station 32/14. The location of the polling boots at the polling station 31/02 does not ensure the secrecy of ballot. At the polling station 32/56 an elderly man looked at the commission members and said: "I voted for Serzh", and at the same polling station a member of the commission said to an old man: "Even if you don't see, you will find him easily: an easy name and a popular surname".

At the polling station 29/21, Serzh Sargsyan's proxy Avetik Abazyan approached the voters and talked to them before their voting. After they had voted, Abazyan again came up to them, talked to them a little and then made a note on his list.

The citizens' actions are coordinated at the polling station 29/27. At the polling station 41/23 a citizen comes up to the voters looking for their names on the lists and advises them to vote for Serzh Sargsyan.  Cars and microbuses with state numbers carry the citizens to the polling stations 29/25, 29/31, 30/02, 29/07. At the polling station 29/08 Serzh Sargsyan's proxy constantly comes out allegedly to look at the voter list and enters the polling station together with the voters.

The observers also point out the presence of people having no right to be at the polling stations. For instance, there were three proxies of Serzh Sargsyan at the polling station 29/27, however, one of them is officially registered. 2 proxies of Serzh Sargsyan - Simonyan Artak and Melkonyan Hovhannes - were at the polling station 32/34 at the same time. At the polling station 32/56 various people helped two voters to vote, however, their data were not registered. At the
polling station 30/01 the commission exerted pressure on the Heritage Party's proxy. The number of the voters at the polling station 41/19 very often exceeds 15.  At the polling station 41/09 the observers of Choice is Yours NGO enter the building every hour, specify the number of voters and tell the police. At the polling station 29/08 someone put his signature for the voter Samvel Petrosyan.