On
March 30, the day of local government elections in Gyumri and Parakar
communities, the Human Rights Defender’s Office of the Republic of Armenia has
been working since early morning.
By
the instruction of the Defender, among others, more than 300 publications from
the mass media and social networks were examined.
As a
result of monitoring, publications have been recorded regarding voter coercion,
the presence of unauthorized individuals at polling stations, gatherings,
failure to post voter lists in a visible place at polling centres, and other
issues.
The
Human Rights Defender’s Office has carefully examined the information about
possible obstacles to the work of journalists and observers.
In
addition, monitoring visits were conducted to polling stations upon the
instruction of the Human Rights Defender to monitor the accessibility of the
electoral process for persons with disabilities.
Persons
with disabilities also participated in the unannounced monitoring visit.
In
this context, issues were recorded concerning the accessibility of the area
adjacent to the polling station, buildings, voting rooms including the floor of
the room, sufficient lighting, and restroom accessibility. Moreover, the
mentioned problems were also recorded in the list of accessible and partially
accessible polling stations published on the website of the Central Electoral
Commission, in the polling stations listed as such.
For
example, it was recorded that the voting room was listed on the first floor,
while it was in the basement, and the entrance was only by stairs.
Problems
with ensuring accessibility of information for people with disabilities were
also recorded.
The
polling stations were not equipped with magnifiers, there was a lack of
awareness about the use of Braille templates for ballots, etc.
Information
was also received about individual who were unable to leave their homes due to
disability and thus could not exercise their voting rights, which is a
consequence of the lack of a legislative mechanism for voting via a mobile
ballot box.
Information
was also received that a person was unable to leave home and exercise his/her
right to vote due to disability, which is also a consequence of the lack of a
legislative opportunity to participate in voting through a mobile ballot box.
During
the local government election processes, a high level of hate speech,
discriminatory speech, and polarization of society was recorded, which is
unacceptable.
The
problems recorded during the electoral processes will be summarized and letters
will be addressed to the competent state authorities.
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