Unity Wings continues legal election challenge

PanARMENIAN.Net - Unity Wings welcomes the joint statement issued by six opposition political forces regarding alleged electoral violations, but has also stated that it will continue its own legal proceedings. Party member Liparit Drmeyan made the remarks in response to questions about why the political force did not join the statement, Sputnik Armenia reports.

He recalled that his party declared the day after the election that it did not accept the results. According to Drmeyan, the party believes the election failed because voters' free will was significantly influenced before polling day, particularly through the use of administrative resources and other methods by the ruling force, preventing citizens from expressing their choices freely.

Referring to the Central Electoral Commission meeting held on June 14, Drmeyan said the number of recorded violations was so large that the legality of the adopted decision had been called into question. According to him, the next step will be to appeal the CEC decision.

“During the meeting, there was, to put it mildly, a disgraceful process. The CEC committed numerous violations, specifically the CEC chair, who effectively did not have a proper grasp of either the legal regulations or the procedures. An administrative proceeding was underway, and during that proceeding another process was launched. The agenda was approved under one draft, but ultimately another draft was brought to the agenda. The violations were so numerous that they themselves cast doubt on the legality of the CEC decision,” Drmeyan said.

He recalled that at the June 14 session, Strong Armenia and Unity Wings demanded that the election results be declared invalid under Article 101 of the Electoral Code. However, according to him, the CEC refused to consider the matter and stated that invalidating the voting results in three polling stations would not affect the overall election outcome.

Drmeyan also criticized the CEC’s explanation issued today, according to which, once final results are known, a voter’s choice may be shaped not by original political preferences but by calculations aimed at changing a known outcome.

“This is in the realm of manipulation. That re-vote should have been scheduled much earlier, before the election results were finalized, so that the circumstance they are now citing would not exist. It is a manipulative statement designed to serve certain narrow interests and objectives,” Drmeyan said.

He also stated that Unity Wings is considering applying to the Constitutional Court with a demand to invalidate the election results.

On June 14, the CEC published the final election results, according to which Prosperous Armenia failed to clear the threshold for parliamentary representation. Following the announcement, the Strong Armenia alliance, the Armenia alliance, Prosperous Armenia, Bright Armenia, the Armenian National Congress, and the National Democratic Pole issued a joint statement declaring that they do not recognize the election results. According to the authors of the statement, five major categories of fundamental violations were recorded during the election process, making the results unsuitable as a basis for forming a legitimate government enjoying majority public confidence.