CEC addresses technical voting issues

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission has received reports of technical problems from several polling stations, and the Situation Center is handling all alerts and issues reported in the media, CEC Chairman Vahagn Hovakimyan said, according to Panorama.am.

“There cannot be a problem that cannot be resolved. We have received reports from several polling stations about technical issues. For example, the technical device prints a receipt showing the voter’s number, but a different number appears on the printed list. In such cases, we have instructed that the voter should sign next to their name on the list,” he said.

The CEC chairman also noted that the use of pens during voting is not permitted and that there is no need for them.

“If any mark appears on the envelope or ballot paper, it will be considered invalid,” he said.

According to Hovakimyan, the electoral process has been proceeding normally since voting began. All polling stations started their preparations at 7:00 a.m. and began admitting voters at 8:00 a.m., Radar Armenia reported.

“As of 8:00 a.m., the process is proceeding normally,” he said.

Regular elections to Armenia’s National Assembly have begun.

All 2,005 polling stations across the country opened at 8:00 a.m. The voter register includes 2,485,851 eligible voters. Polling stations will remain open until 8:00 p.m.

A total of 18 political forces are participating in the parliamentary elections: two party alliances and 16 individual parties. The electoral threshold is 4% for parties and 8% for alliances.