Documents

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) conducted monitoring of pre-election period for 2 October, 2021 Local Self-government Elections. The first interim report covers the composition of election commissions, the Advisory Group to the CEC, the appointment of new CEC members, and the election environment and media environment. 

On 28 July 2021, the Central Election Commission adopted a new media accreditation procedure that restricts media access to observe and report on the electoral process. The new rules violate the freedom of media editorial policy and may significantly reduce the transparency of the election process.

In its final interim report, Promo-LEX reports on the main issues from the end of the election campaign and final election preparations ahead of Sunday's early parliamentary elections. Main issues include legal uncertainties related to the funding of elections, lack of a CEC decision that would regulate the organized transportation of voters, unreported expenses for the election campaign, and perpetuation of hate speech and incitement to discrimination.

Observers criticize the CEC’s decision on setting up too few polling stations abroad and for not following the legal criteria provided for this in the Electoral Code. They also note an increase in misuse of state resources and that most parties failed to declare some of their campaign expenses, amounting to a total of approx. 90 000 Euro in undeclared expenses, of which most went to campaign advertising. Complaints filed to the CEC were also not addressed in a swift manner and there is a high rate of rejected complaints.

In this second interim report, Promo-LEX reports on the registration of election contestants, early campaigning, setting up of polling stations according to voters' pre-registration numbers, and concerns over the lack of provisions for ensuring COVID19 preparedness. Observers find that this campaign is again affected by several instances of hate speech.

ISFED concludes in its final monitoring report that the Election Day was managed effectively and in compliance with the legal requirements. Despite the extreme surge of Covid-19 cases, voters were provided with a safe environment to cast their votes. However, the prevalence of cases of vote-buying / bribery / intimidation, misuse of state resources, domination of the ruling party in the election commissions, discrepancies in the summary protocols, and ineffective handling of complaints and appeals, significantly undermined public trust in electoral processes.

On April 21, 2020, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and OSCE/ODIHR published their Draft Joint Urgent Opinion on an electoral reform legislative package in Armenia that is expected to pass ahead of the announced early parliamentary election. The Joint Urgent Opinion understands the urgency of eliminating district seats, noting that it followed many years of consultation on the issue, and comments on several aspects of the reform bill. Details on these in our Policy Alert.