Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

During the long-term observation implemented ahead of the elections of the Council of Elders in Yerevan, the Independent Observer Alliance, represented by Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, sent inquiries to the Office of the RA Prime Minister, RA Ministry of Internal Affairs, RA Central Electoral Commission, Yerevan municipality and heads of administrative districts.

The key aim of the inquiries is to assess administration of the elections and disclose and eliminate abuse of administrative resources. The inquiries conducted with the aim of assessing administration of the elections concern the change of the electoral lists and video surveillance of the voting rooms. The inquiry conducted with the aim of eliminating abuse of administrative resources concerns officials who were involved in the campaign while on leave.

Only the RA Central Electoral Commission provided a timely response to the inquiries of the Independent Observer. The other organizations either did not respond, or informed that they would respond within 30 days without mentioning the reasons for the delay and the deadline for providing the required information.

It is obvious that requiring additional time for the provision of the information based on which an objective idea could be obtained about the use of administrative resources during the pre- election phase, and which reasonably does not require additional work, can only be assessed as intentionally not providing the required information until its relevance and role is lost timewise. 

HCA Vanadzor applied to the Court to assess the legality of requiring additional time for the last inquiry.