PACE calls Armenian officials for vigilance

/By AzerNews/

By Laman Sadigova

The situation in Armenia remains instable after the recent referendum on constitutional changes, as majority of the country's citizens accuse the government of fraud.

The referendum on constitutional changes that aimed to change the country’s political structure from presidential to parliamentary republic was held in Armenia December 6.

According to the CEC website, 825,622 people voted “yes” while 421,593 people said “no” to the amendments.

The polls saw relatively low turnout hardly exceeding 50 percent of the population, clearly confirming that the referendum was driven by political interests instead of the needs of the Armenian public.

"The relatively low turn-out, around 50% of the population, reflects the fact that the referendum was driven by political interests instead of the needs of the Armenian public and was perceived by many citizens as a vote of confidence in the government rather than on the many proposals for change," said the preliminary conclusion of the observation mission of PACE, published on its official website.

The PACE co-rapporteurs mentioned several problems which took place during the voting in Armenia, and many of them were already mentioned in previous PACE, Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR recommendations.

Many assert that "there were mass cases of ballot-stuffing, violence, pressure, vote-buying."

People understand that the new constitution targets keeping Serzh Sargsyan in power. The incumbent president enjoys low rating in pubic and the protesters aim to prevent this to happen.

The opposition Armenian National Congress has rejected the election commission's results.

Lene Wetteland of the European Platform for Democratic Elections said "we are disappointed by both the campaign and the vote itself.” She also said that "the ruling Armenian Republican Party exerted serious pressure on both observers and journalists."

The Armenian Police received 268 signals about violations of the elections procedures during the voting.

Votes in 78 polling stations in Armenia, where a referendum on constitutional reform took place, will be recalculated, the Central Election Commission said.

More than 63 percent of participants of the referendum voted in favor of the adoption of amendments to the Constitution, opposed by over 32 percent of voters, according to preliminary data.

Official results of the referendum will be published a week after the end of voting.