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U.S. urges Armenian government to investigate violations in referendum

15 December 2015 18:39 (UTC+04:00)
U.S. urges Armenian government to investigate violations in referendum

By Laman Sadigova

The U.S. embassy in Yerevan has urged the Armenian government, in particular, the Prosecutor General and the Ombudsman, to provide full-length investigations into allegations of violations during the referendum on constitutional reform held on December 6.

“The U.S. embassy continues to monitor the recount proceedings of the constitutional referendum held on December 6. We have previously noted our serious concern about credible allegations of irregularities in the referendum reported by non-partisan observers and various Armenian political parties.”

The amendments to the Basic Law provide for the country's transition to a parliamentary system of government.

In total, 446 applications were sent to the prosecutor's office, including 420 sent to investigation, 16 posts sent to the police and 10 criminal cases initiated.

“Looking ahead, we renew our call for the Armenian government and Parliament to adopt a new electoral code in line with OSCE/ODIHR’s recommendations, and urge that reform of the new code be carried out in accordance with international standards, in order to increase the integrity of electoral processes in Armenia,” the statement says.

The referendum in Armenia was carried out in the atmosphere of scandals and protests, surrounded by criticism. Now, the talks about its credibility are not subsiding either.

Following the referendum, the PACE observation mission published a report noting that "the relatively low turn-out, around 50 percent of the population, showed that the referendum was driven by political interests instead of the needs of the Armenian public and was perceived by many citizens as a vote of confidence in the government rather than on many proposals for change."

The Armenian police received 268 signals about violations of the elections procedures during the voting.

Armenian people, without any feeling of confidence in the authorities, do not give up on fighting against the constitutional changes which cost big money and big stress among the population.

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Follow Laman Sadigova on Twitter: @s_laman93

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