Voting stamp vanishes due to incorrect use

May 6, 2012 - 11:01 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - A few minutes after the voting started, voters and observers alarmed that the stamp put in a voter’s passport vanished in 17 minutes, leaving a thin line instead.

Meanwhile, the stamp ink was supposed to disappear in 12 hours only.

A PanARMENIAN.Net reporter visited polling station 4/07 to solve the riddle. Chairman of this electoral committee Valery Kosyan said that also got similar reports and made a test to check whether this is true or not.

They stamped a passport and waited for the ink to vanish; this did not happen, however, a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter personally saw the ink holds for at least one hour.

Meanwhile, similar reports came from other polling stations as well, some even suspended the voting process and informed the Central Electoral Committee (CEC) on this. CEC instructed to continue the voting despite the vanishing ink marks.

CEC chairman Tirgan Mukuchyan commented on this issue saying some polling stations did not follow the rules of using the stamp properly. “The stamp should be shaken before putting the mark. The whole mechanism of using the stamp has been clarified now, and we have reports saying everything is ok now,” Mukuchyan said.