The evening may get even warmer.
Extraordinary parliamentary elections in Armenia are held in a “non-parliamentary” atmosphere. The day before, analysts had warned that the situation would be hot. But how much – they didn't expect either. Searching at headquarters, fighting, shooting in polling stations and shelling candidates' cars – this rarely happens on election day. You can only imagine how the number of votes will end …
The morning of the parliamentary elections began with a slight halt at 114 polling stations. On this day, 119 members of the election commissions decided not to come to work. Compared to the general background of 16064 members of election commissions, this is, of course, a drop in the bucket. But among those who “saved” their duties were five polling station secretaries. They had to hurry to look for a replacement.
It should be noted that Sunday's parliamentary elections were attended by 25 political forces of Armenia: 21 parties and 4 constituencies. Among them are the political associations of the country's three former presidents: the “Armenia” bloc led by second president Robert Kocharian, the “I have the honor” bloc led by third president Sergeant Sargsyan, and the Armenian National Congress, led by Armenia's first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan … On the eve of the election, a poll by the international association Gallup showed that Kocharian's political forces had bypassed the ruling civil contract, led by Nikol Pashinyan. 28.7% of respondents were ready to vote for “Armenia”, 25.2% for “civil agreement”.
On election day, therefore, the hottest confrontation took place between the two forces. In the morning, there were reports that in Sisian, in the Syunik area, inspections were carried out in the polling station and in the homes of members of the headquarters of the Armenian bloc, led by Robert Kocharian. Four members of the headquarters were summoned to Yerevan for explanations. Police described one of the reasons for the search as “finding equipment for printing ballots, ballots and other materials related to the electoral process.” The leadership of the bloc believes that all this provocation was organized in order to dismiss four representatives of the headquarters and prevent them from performing their duties on election day. Following a complaint from the “Armenia” party, the Ombudsman went to the Syunik region to find out the reasons for what was happening. During the vote, former Armenia President Serzh Sargsyan also spoke of pressure from the law enforcement system. “The whole law enforcement system, especially in the last days of the election campaign, is clearly using brutal violence against us at the suggestion of the authorities.” Incomprehensible invitations to police stations, illegal searches, detention, “he said.
In the morning, the notorious candidate for Prime Minister of the Alliance of Democrats Shirinyan-Babajanyan Bloc Arman Babajanyan, who plays on the Pashinyan side, spoke about the attempted life. Allegedly, an unknown person “in a white robe and mask” fired a pistol at a parliamentary car. It is true that Babajanyan was not in the car at the time, meaning that the “attempt” for some reason fired at an empty car. But the scandal came out loud. However, the actual shooting with the victims took place a little later in the Ararat area. The gas pistol was fired by one of the observers fighting strangers who did not like the question: why are there no cameras in the polling station and why are the members of the commission telling voters who to vote for? As a result, the observer and his father ended up in the hospital.
There were questions from the police and the ruling party and its leader, Nikol Pashinyana. The Prime Minister himself violated the electoral law when he spoke to the citizens on a day of silence. On election day, Hayk Sargsyan, a member of his party, posted photos on polling stations where ballot papers for number 24 were collected. This is the numbering of Robert Kocharian's “Armenia” block. “Les Miserables” – the deputy signed the photo. The Prosecutor General's Office has already responded to illegal photographs by launching a process to check the “presence of the delicti corpus”.