By Siranush Adamyan
Armenia’s Central Election Commission failed to adequately explain its decision to annul the results from three polling stations in the June 7 parliamentary elections, even though the excluded votes could have determined whether an opposition party entered parliament, according to a report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The report, dated September 22, assessed election day positively overall but raised serious concerns about the handling of the results, campaign conditions and foreign interference.
Three precincts and a parliamentary threshold
The dispute concerns three polling stations in different parts of Armenia. According to the report, military personnel were allowed to vote after the legal closing time at two of them. At the third, ballots for the National Democratic Pole were missing for most of the day.
The commission annulled the results at all three precincts and declined to order repeat voting. It stated in a one-sentence justification that the annulments “did not affect the overall result.”
“That is a very insufficient justification for the decision, especially given the significance of its impact,” the report says.
Prosperous Armenia received 3.99% of the vote in the official results, just below the 4% threshold for parties to enter parliament. According to calculations cited in the report, including the excluded votes might have put the party over the threshold and denied the ruling Civil Contract party a three-fifths majority. The report presents this as a possible outcome, not an established alternative result.
“The PACE delegation is however concerned by the CEC’s invalidation of polling station results that were decisive for entry into parliament of one opposition party, without substantiated justification,” the report says. It adds that the absence of a repeat poll affected the overall result and representation.
Legal challenges brought no remedy
The Akanates and Independent Observer monitoring groups, along with civil society representatives and legal experts, challenged the commission’s decision as lacking a legal basis and violating the principle of proportionality, according to the report.
The CEC chair subsequently cited a Venice Commission report that discusses the risk of tactical voting in repeat polls. But the PACE report says that document does not rule out a new vote when excluding voters’ ballots could fundamentally alter the allocation of seats and parliament’s representativeness.
Court proceedings did not resolve the dispute before the new parliament convened. The PACE delegation said narrow rules on who may bring a complaint and rigid deadlines limited the courts’ ability to provide an effective remedy. It warned of a risk that a significant share of voters had been left without effective representation.
The delegation recommends amending the Electoral Code to expressly require a repeat vote when fundamental representation is at stake. It also calls for broader access to the courts and more flexible remedies in election disputes.
Election day and the campaign
The PACE delegation concluded that the election offered voters “a genuine choice among political alternatives in a well-run process.” Voting was calm and was assessed positively in the vast majority of polling stations visited by the international observation mission.
Violations were nevertheless recorded in approximately 44% of the observed precincts. They included procedural errors, breaches of ballot secrecy, attempts to control voters and campaigning at polling stations. The figure refers to precincts observed by monitors, not to all polling stations nationwide. Counting was assessed as good in the overwhelming majority of observed stations.
The campaign took place amid sharp polarisation and concerns about unequal opportunities. Public sector employees reported being required or pressured to attend Civil Contract rallies. Observers also documented several instances of business leaders pressuring staff to attend opposition events. Government social measures introduced shortly before the election were regarded as de facto campaign tools, despite technically complying with election law.
The report refers to more than 200 investigations into alleged vote buying and related electoral offenses, primarily targeting the opposition. It says the pattern contributed to perceptions of selective law enforcement and that criminal proceedings deterred some opposition supporters from actively campaigning.
Oversight of spending before the formal campaign and by third parties was also inadequate, the delegation found. It said public television and several private broadcasters displayed bias in favour of the ruling party, while other outlets were consistently critical of the government. Online campaigning featured AI-generated material, coordinated information operations and attacks on candidates’ reputations.
Russian pressure and other foreign involvement
The report describes the scale of foreign interference as “unprecedented and worrying.” It says Russia used economic restrictions and sharp diplomatic rhetoric in an effort to influence voters in favor of opposition-aligned or anti-government parties.
Among the measures it lists are Russian restrictions on Armenian exports of flowers, mineral water and alcohol, as well as inspections of food products. On May 27, Russian authorities announced plans to review the terms for supplying Armenia with natural gas, oil products and diamonds. The next day, they announced temporary restrictions on additional agricultural products.
The report also says Eurasian Economic Union leaders demanded at a May summit in Astana that Armenia hold a referendum on choosing between the bloc and the European Union, warning of suspension over its Western-leaning policies. It cites President Vladimir Putin’s May 9 remarks comparing the risks of Armenia’s EU aspirations with those faced by Ukraine, and Russia’s decision on May 30 to recall its ambassador in Yerevan for consultations over Armenia’s moves towards closer EU ties.
Domestic and international observers reported coordinated campaigns by Russian-linked actors, as well as threats made in Russia to Armenian citizens and business owners that they would face punitive measures if the ruling party was not defeated. The PACE delegation concluded that Russian interference and foreign information operations had reached a scale unprecedented in a Council of Europe member state.
The report also notes high-profile endorsements of the ruling party by Western officials, including the US and French presidents and senior EU representatives. It says these were perceived as external interference, but were far less pronounced, largely declarative and lacked the coercive dimension of the Russian actions.
Separately, the delegation said it found no evidence confirming pre-election allegations that large numbers of Armenian voters living in Russia had been transported to Armenia to influence the vote.
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The PACE delegation said Armenia had demonstrated the ability to run a technically proficient, generally peaceful election. It called for urgent changes to the handling of election disputes, campaign finance and the use of state resources, alongside stronger safeguards against external interference and more impartial public broadcasting.
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