Armenian election commission failed to answer key questions in vote challenge, lawyer says

A lawyer representing the opposition Strong Armenia alliance told Armenia's Constitutional Court on Wednesday that the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) failed to adequately respond to allegations of widespread electoral violations, arguing that the parliamentary elections did not meet constitutional standards for free and equal voting.

Delivering closing arguments in proceedings examining consolidated petitions from seven political groups contesting the results of the June 7 parliamentary elections, attorney Aram Vardevanyan said the applicants had presented evidence of "systemic, widespread and recurring" electoral irregularities.

Vardevanyan stated the violations spanned multiple stages of the electoral process, including the pre-election period, election day itself and the aftermath of the vote, as well as what he described as manifestly unlawful actions by the competent authorities after the election.

"We established that the Central Electoral Commission, as the respondent in this case, had no answers to a number of critical questions," Vardevanyan told the court. "During the hearings, we witnessed the respondent effectively exercising a right to remain silent. A direct question from one of the Constitutional Court judges received no response whatsoever."

He argued that the voting failed to comply with Article 7 of Armenia's Constitution, which guarantees free and equal elections, adding that the opposition had substantiated those claims throughout the proceedings.

"We saw how it was possible for the Central Election Commission, while serving as the respondent, to effectively have a backup respondent in the form of a third party," Vardevanyan said. "Is this a problem, Your Honor? Does it have a material impact on these proceedings or not?"