YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Human Rights Defender, Karen Andreasyan, issued a statement in which he reflected on Monday’s presidential election in the country. 

“What’s more important than the election results is the public trust in these results. This notwithstanding, no evaluation can be complete and trustworthy for the Armenian body politic unless Armenia’s Police objectively present how many reports were made with respect to the following most serious election violations, and how many of them were valid: Distribution of election bribes; multiple voting; voting upon directives; ballot stuffing; pressuring a [polling precinct] commission member, or a proxy, during vote-counting; [and] falsification of the results of vote-counting.    

It is also extremely important to find out and present to the public as to why the activities of Gala TV’s website were hampered on Election Day. It is also indispensable to expose all cases of hindrance to the activities of journalists and observers, and to hold the guilty to account.   

A non-credible activity by the Police could cast a shadow upon the positive accomplishments of all phases of this election,” the Armenian ombudsman’s respective statement reads in particular.