The ANC alleges electoral violations and state interference
The Armenian National Congress (ANC) — the opposition party ostensibly headed by the 81-year-old first president of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, though fronted in the campaign by its prime ministerial candidate, Levon Zurabyan — has issued a statement regarding alleged violations of electoral rights and purported attempts to involve state bodies in ‘unconstitutional actions’.
According to the ANC, on Saturday, leading members of the ruling Civil Contract party — Vahagn Aleksanyan and Arsen Torosyan — as well as programme coordinator at the local NGO Union of Informed Citizens Daniel Ioannisyan made video messages in which they ‘openly threaten to initiate trumped-up criminal cases against our fellow citizens who are returning to the Republic of Armenia these days and intend to participate in the elections’.
The statement went on to accuse the three of ‘openly giv[ing] orders and instructions to law enforcement agencies to arrest arriving citizens and “identify” the purposes of their return’.
‘This style of behaviour is nothing more than a blatant attempt to involve state and law enforcement agencies in actions aimed at overthrowing the constitutional order, by abusing one’s own official position and party affiliation. This is a call for political persecution against our compatriots and a gross interference in the electoral rights of [Armenian] citizens guaranteed by the Constitution’, the ANC wrote.
They concluded by emphasising that the state system should not serve ‘as a tool to hinder the expression of the will of the people’, adding that violations in the law should be ‘revealed in accordance with the law’, rather than become propaganda items.
