Armenian election observer deletes post about opposition candidate

Daniel Ioannisyan, head of the Union of Informed Citizens NGO and a member of the Independent Observer coalition, has removed a social media post about opposition candidate Edmon Marukyan after Armenia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) urged him to do so.

Ioannisyan said the commission’s appeal was not a binding order but a call for restraint. “Out of respect for more than 10 years of cooperation, I am deleting my earlier post about one of the candidates,” he wrote.

He noted that while election commission members are bound by “restraint,” observers are required to maintain “neutrality,” stressing that the expectations are not identical.

The decision follows the CEC’s rejection of a petition from the opposition Bright Armenia party, which sought to revoke Ioannisyan’s observer mandate. The commission declined the request but called on him to remove negative remarks about the party and avoid repeating them.