OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) published the final report on the referendum of the constitutional amendments held in Armenia on December 6, 2015. Aravot.am asked NA MP Khosrov Harutyunyan to refer to this report. Khosrov Harutyunyan said that he believes that the in this OSCE ODIHR document or generally in any document compiled as a result of the observation mission, irrespective of the accent written about this-or-that violation, all of this is accepted as steps and support of the partner organization so that the process would be more transparent and trustworthy, “In other words, the facts found there, even if are exaggerated in our opinion, however, my main understanding is that we must view this document and so we do view it as a support by our partner organization aimed at the improvement of the electoral process.”
Khosrov Harutyunyan noted that surprisingly, the organization has carried out an observation mission in limited resource: in 2 precincts, “This does not suggest that the questions that were raised in the report are not worthy of attention. But if we look at the systemic type of questions that are voiced from elections to elections, certainly, they require more attention.”
In the report, the OSCE ODIHR addresses the issue of voting by the identification cards during the referendum, mentioning that it had caused controversy as it creates an opportunity for unlawful operations of the elections. Khosrov Harutyunyan said that it was impossible to put a seal on the identification cards, and even the opposition when addressing this issue admitted that the it is difficult to put a seal on the ID card, “Certainly, we all know that it is impossible to put a seal on the ID card but nevertheless, not to abuse the opportunity of voting by this card or not to allow them to try to forge the law, it was decided to amend the Electoral Code and the voters were registered in a separate list by using this ID card. Maybe this could not fully dispel all the doubts but it must be said that the authorities had responded to the question, which was previously voiced by the opposition.”
OSCE ODIHR has also stated that the vote-counting process was marked by the significant mediation of RPA proxies. Khosrov Harutyunyan does not rule out that such a case could be registered in 1-2 precincts. However, he considers it illogical and incomprehensible that observing just 2 precincts, the organization implies it to throughout the whole electoral process, “According to how it is composed, I have the impression that they have not witnessed it but were informed about it. In other words, perhaps, the proxies at the polling station have told them about it, now I am asking a question, “They know the Electoral Code, don’t they? And as they know, they also know that there is a special log-book at the polling stations for registering such gross violations, and any proxy and any member of the committee may write down the fact of violation.
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Accordingly, the person who was carrying out the observation mission, if he wanted to be sure that these facts are true, he was supposed to examine whether there is such a record in the logbook or not.” Khosrov Harutyunyan noted that he does not understand the part where the organization is criticizing the involvement of the officials in the campaign. He emphasized that the president, prime minister, ministers and governors are the influential members of the Republican Party, “If not for them to be involved in the campaign and the activities of the organization, I am sorry, then who should do it. To be honest, I wonder when elections were held in Germany, were all the members of the German Government sitting at home idle? It is not the case. All the officials were involved in the electoral process, thus initiating the referendum, to the point, though in this case, the authorities have not initiated the referendum, but there are cases when the authorities initiate the referendum. Do you think the officials were sitting idle with their mouths shut watching the process? Of course, not. And this question is even obscure to me.”
Ami CHICHAKYAN
