According to this video released by the Union of Informed Citizens, there are two major violations that take place in Armenia’s local elections that falsify their results.

1) Falsification of vote count at polling stations – The UIC says that this occurs when the entire local precinct electoral commission agrees to falsify the final count. Such a violation may occur when there are no representatives present from the opposition or civil society, or when the latter have been bribed. Political parties can, if they have a recount petition, demand that the votes be re-tabulated if they have suspicions that the count has been manipulated.

The UIC says it is vital that the opposition and civil society have representatives at all polling stations.

2) Double voting – This occurs when a voter cast a ballot for someone else listed on the voter rolls. The UIC says that voter rolls in Armenia are highly exaggerated and include names of people that have either died or have left the country. Double voting is facilitated given that a new law allows people to cast ballots based solely on presenting an ID card (not the traditional passport), that does not contain a residency address or a certification stamp.

Nevertheless the electoral law allows opposition party proxies to sit next to the person verifying that a voter is the same person whose name appears on the voter roll. The proxy must be convinced that when voters signs their name on the voter roll it is a match for the signature in the identity document they bring.

P.S. – Around 20 civil society groups are working together to recruit and train 1,800 people as referendum observers. They will cover almost half of Armenia’s polling stations. There will also be 123 international observers (CIS Observer Mission-44, CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly-23, International CEC Representatives-33, PACE-11, OSCE/ODIHR-5, Diplomatic Missions accredited in Armenia-7).

There are 471 polling stations throughout the 13 election precincts in Yerevan.