Local elections are taking place in 317 communities of the Aragatsotn, Ararat, Armavir, Syunik and Tavush regions of Armenia. Polling stations opened at 8:00am.
In total, 408 candidates are running for the heads of rural communities, and 2,693 candidates are running for the councils of elders.
Armenia’s political forces are represented at 541 local election commissions as follows:
The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has 241 representatives
The Prosperous Armenia party, 168 representatives
The Armenian National Congress (ANC) party union, 42 representatives
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D), 30 representatives
The Rule of Law party, 30 representatives
The Heritage party, 30 representatives
The office of the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia is working in special conditions on the occasion of local elections in Armenia.
The Ombudsman’s Office has receives signals about election frauds, obstruction of journalists and observers, violation of secrecy of the ballot and so on.
The Ombudsman’s staff are thoroughly examining media reports. Among them is obvious evidence of criminal offences.
After all the data are summed up, they will be submitted to law-enforcement agencies for probes to be launched.
The Ombudsman’s office continues monitoring the local elections.