Armenia adopts law banning election monitors who ‘fail to maintain political neutrality’
The Armenian Parliament has adopted a draft law allowing authorities to revoke the accreditation of election observation missions that fail to maintain political neutrality during the electoral period. The initiative has been panned by the opposition which says it runs counter to Venice Commission recommendations, particularly as it was passed months before the elections.
The amendments in the Electoral Code were proposed by three ruling Civil Contract Party MPs — Arusyak Julhakyan, Vladimir Vardanyan, and Lilit Minasyan.
The draft law was discussed in a session convened on 23 January, proposing several changes regarding observers, including criteria for accreditation and clarifying cases for revocation of their accreditation.
Julhakyan directly stated that the draft was designed based on the violations of Hayakve observation organisation, which ‘campaigned against’ the ruling Civil Contract party during local elections in Gyumri and Vagharshapat throughout 2025.
The authors of the initiative suggested that they developed the amendments because the current legislation did not establish sufficient mechanisms to ensure the fulfillment of political neutrality and impartiality of observation missions as defined by the code.
‘The main purpose of the draft is precisely to establish those mechanisms. In other words, to clarify an already existing rule and expand the available tools so that these rules can become truly effective’, Julhakyan said.
Under the law, Armenian-registered organisations whose representatives were not running in elections and did not engage in campaigning were eligible to carry out observation missions. Civil Contract MPs argued it did not cover cases where an ‘observer does not support a candidate but is politically oppositional’.
To address such cases, through legislative amendments, they empowered the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) to deny or revoke the accreditation of organisations campaigning for or against election participants.
The CEC would assess the neutrality of observation missions and their members after their accreditation, and any political activity by members months prior to their accreditation will not be considered.
Moreover, Julhakyan added that under their amendments, if a single member of an observation organisation breaches political neutrality, only that member can lose accreditation. She suggested that the organisation’s accreditation would be revoked if the majority of its members violate neutrality.
However, it is up to the CEC to decide how many such violations would form sufficient grounds for the revocation of a mission’s accreditation, without providing detailed information about the criteria.
In turn, the opposition raised concerns regarding the neutrality of the CEC, considering that its chair, Vahagn Hovakimyan was a former Civil Contract member and is an ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
‘This is yet another attempt to bring the electoral processes entirely under the government’s control and to legalise election fraud’, Artsvik Minasyan, the secretary of the opposition Armenia Alliance faction, stated.
The faction criticised the initiative, raising concerns over its rushed adoption without holding broad public discussions. They boycotted the session based on this criticism.
They also argued that the amendments violated Venice Commission recommendations, which advise against making fundamental changes to the electoral code within a year of elections.
Armenia’s next parliamentary elections are scheduled for June.
The ruling party dismissed the allegations, saying they had consulted relevant groups and excluded ‘fake’ observation missions.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
