Armenian National Platform Demands that the Referendum Results are Nullified

10 December 2015

The Armenian National Platform (ANP) of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum adopted a statement on numerous violations recorded during the 6 December 2015 referendum on amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia (RA). The ANP members expressed their deep concern regarding the violations related to the preparation, conduct and vote counting during the referendum.

The Armenian CSOs stress that the authorities resorted to all possible leverages of influencing the outcome of the voting - use of administrative resources, vote buying, instruction of voters, pressure and violence exerted against opposition members of electoral commissions, proxies, observers and journalists, ballot box stuffing, voting for absent and dead citizens, as well as multiple voting by the same citizens, stealing of ballot boxes and voter registers, etc. The turnout in those polling stations where the observers, proxies and commission members from opposition forces managed to prevent the electoral violations did not exceed 30-35 per cent. This clearly manifests that the turnout recorded by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) is a result of electoral fraud.

It should be noted that the work of many ANP members engaged on the voting day in polling stations as observers, journalists, proxies or commission members was obstructed by the authorities’ representatives of electoral commissions and local mobsters. The ANP declares that the process of the referendum on amendments to the RA Constitution did not comply with democratic principles and the registered results cannot reflect the free will of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia.

The ANP members demand that

the Central Electoral Commission nullifies the results of the 6 December Referendum;
the Republic of Armenia law enforcement agencies bring to justice the organizers and direct perpetrators of the massive electoral fraud;
the European Union institutions incorporate the fulfillment of the above-mentioned demands in the list of preconditions for the negotiations on the framework agreement launched on 7 December.

The EU Delegation and the US Embassy in Armenia issued their statements urging Armenian authorities to conduct a transparent investigation of referendum fraud allegations in order to ensure the ligitimacy and credibility of the current referendum and of any future elections in Armenia.

ANP Statement on Referendum

back to Forum News