CEC decided to recount votes in Armenia

| News, Armenia

The Territorial Election Commission has begun recounting the results of the voting in local elections at polling stations in the communities of the Syunik region, the Central Election Commission of Armenia reported.

The ruling Civil Contract party ceded to the opposition in local elections in Gyumri, Goris and Meghri. Pro-government candidates won in Dilijan, Teg and Tatev, according to preliminary data from the Election Commission of Armenia. 31 reports of violations in the local elections in Armenia were received by the Prosecutor General's Office. One of the reports launched an investigation into a criminal case on pre-election bribes, the department reported on October 18.

On October 17, voting took place for local elections in six communities of the Shirak, Syunik and Tavush regions of Armenia, including elections for the mayors of Gyumri and Dilijan. Voting also took place in the three communities of Aragatotsn, Armavir and Lori. Observers noted the use of administrative resources in the elections, recorded cases of organised transportation of voters to polling stations by supporters of the ruling party and violation of the requirements for visual campaigning.

In the same day (on October 17), the police detained Harutyun Sinanyan, candidate for membership in the Goris Council of Elders from the "Arush Arushanyan" bloc, who, at the request of an elderly neighbour, helped her reach the polling station. According to the police chief, Sinanyan was only invited to the polling station and asked not to commit such acts until the end of the voting period, the candidate's lawyer said. Later, Sinanyan said that he was released without being questioned. On the same day, in Goris, the police searched the headquarters of the "Arush Arushanyan" bloc in connection with the criminal case of Arusha Arushanyan's father, who is suspected of distributing pre-election bribes. Arushanyan's associates considered the actions of the security forces to be a use of administrative resources on election day.

In the early parliamentary elections held in Armenia on June 20, Nikol Pashinyan's "Civil Contract" party won more than half of the votes. The main rival of the ruling party, the bloc of the country's second president, Robert Kocharyan, "Hayastan," received, according to the CEC, 21.9% of the vote. The agreement on early elections in Armenia was reached after several months of protests by the opposition, who were dissatisfied with the country's defeat in the battles for Nagorno-Karabakh.

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