Stepanavan: opposition party Strong Armenia seeks to annul local election, request rejected
- Published
- Place
- Stepanavan, Lori, Armenia
- Event date
- Past event —
Summary
The opposition party Strong Armenia on 1 November asked for the results of the 25 October local election in Stepanavan, a town in the Lori region of northern Armenia, to be annulled. The request was filed with territorial electoral commission No. 25, which met to approve the results, and was rejected, said the party’s representative, constitutional law expert Gohar Meloyan. The party alleges that voters were misled, law enforcement interfered in the campaign, government resources were used, gatherings were restricted, voters were offered material benefits and there were hundreds of violations. According to the Central Electoral Commission, the Gortsarar (“Entrepreneur”) party came first with 41.54% of the vote, ahead of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract (35.32%) and Strong Armenia (19.68%).
Analysis
Gohar Meloyan says the ruling party ran one of its candidates under the Gortsarar label to win over voters who did not want to vote for it. The election was already tense: shortly before the vote, police detained 24 people, including Arsen Gevorgyan, Strong Armenia’s candidate for community head, who was later arrested in a case involving seized cash. His lawyers say the money was meant to pay for the campaign.
Possible consequences
Strong Armenia says it will take the case to court and present its evidence to Armenia’s international partners.
