CEC chair: observer missions must stay out of campaigning

PanARMENIAN.Net - Chairman of Armenia’s Central Election Commission Vahagn Hovakimyan, commenting on applications submitted by the authorized representative of the Independent Observer alliance Daniel Ioannisyan, said that observer missions in elections have no right to express political positions.

Ioannisyan had demanded that the registrations of the International Center for Parliamentarism, Hayakve, and the Tatoyan Center for Law and Justice observer missions, registered as local observers in elections held in the Vagharshapat community of Armavir region, be annulled, Sputnik Armenia reports.

According to Hovakimyan, a CEC session held on November 15 lasted around 10 hours.

“It was important to have an open discussion so that observer missions do not engage in political activity. If any civil organization intends to engage in politics, which is its right, it should not register as an observer mission. During the meeting we reached this understanding; moreover, the observer mission concerned acknowledged that these concerns were not groundless,” Hovakimyan said.

The CEC chairman stressed that Article 30 of the Electoral Code stipulates that observer organizations may not express political positions, while Article 23 fully prohibits observer organizations from engaging in pre-election campaigning.

According to Hovakimyan, on voting day itself at polling stations, the agreement was upheld and observer organizations refrained from political campaigning.