Election trivia: FAQ for Yerevan polls
While media attention in the last four weeks of campaigning has been reasonably focused on what politicians promise and analysts predict for the upcoming elections of the Yerevan municipal assembly, the legislatively imposed “day of silence” on the eve of the vote seems a natural time for reflection on what the current elections are and what they mean for voters and political parties in the city that is officially home to more than a third of Armenia’s 3.2 million-strong population.
Below is some basic information of interest to both voters and observers in the May 31 Yerevan elections compiled by ArmeniaNow reporter Gayane Abrahamyan in a “digestible” Question-and-Answer format. While media attention in the last four weeks of campaigning has been reasonably focused on what politicians promise and analysts predict for the upcoming elections of the Yerevan municipal assembly, the legislatively imposed “day of silence” on the eve of the vote seems a natural time for reflection on what the current elections are and what they mean for voters and political parties in the city that is officially home to more than a third of Armenia’s 3.2 million-strong population.
Below is some basic information of interest to both voters and observers in the May 31 Yerevan elections compiled by ArmeniaNow reporter Gayane Abrahamyan in a “digestible” Question-and-Answer format.
Information on election coverage and returns may also be found at www.caucasusreports.com sponsored by International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and prepared by journalists who include ArmeniaNow staff.
ABOUT THOSE SEEKING ELECTION
Q. What are the May 31 elections and what is their significance?
A. On Sunday, May 31, eligible voters in Armenian capital Yerevan will go to the polls to elect a 65-seat municipal assembly that they will entrust with electing the city’s next mayor at the first session.
What makes the current elections significant is that they enable citizens in Yerevan to elect, even though indirectly, their mayor, something they have been unable to do since 1995 when the constitution adopted in a referendum made the mayor of Yerevan a president-appointed post. This also in practice implied that the mayor would be more dependent on and accountable to the head of state than to his or her constituencies, i.e. the townsfolk. This ‘undemocratic’ model of city governance had to be revised after the 2005 constitutional reform that was part of the country’s commitments to the Council of Europe.
Q. Who are we electing?
A. Only political parties or blocs are eligible to participate in the elections to the Yerevan municipal assembly under the system of proportional representation. The top candidate on each party’s ticket is the likely candidate for the mayoral post, i.e. by voting for the party voters also cast their vote for its top candidate to become mayor.
Six political parties, namely (in no particular order) the Republican Party of Armenia, Prosperous Armenia, Orinats Yerkir, the Labor Socialist Party of Armenia, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and the People’s Party, and one bloc, namely the Armenian National Congress, are participating in the upcoming elections.
Q. Is there a hurdle for political forces to clear to be voted into the municipal assembly?
A. Political parties must poll at least 7 percent of the popular vote and blocs need to clear a 9-percent hurdle to be represented in the assembly. Some experts consider this barrier high enough to amount to discrimination against smaller parties. Despite months of debates this provision has remained unchanged.
Q. How will the mayor be elected?
A. Any political party or bloc that sweeps the election polling more than 50 percent of the vote will automatically be entitled to install its top candidate as mayor. If none of the participating forces manages to win an outright majority, the mayor will be elected, by a simple vote, from among the candidates nominated by the forces voted into the assembly.
An amendment made in the electoral code in January introduced the notion of so-called bonus, which means that if any party or bloc manages to gain 40 percent of the vote, an additional 10 percent will be given to it as a bonus to form an absolute majority and become entitled to have its top candidate as new mayor.
ABOUT THOSE ELECTING
Q. Who is eligible to vote?
A. All citizens who have attained the age of 18 and have a permanent legal address or at least have been registered for a year in Yerevan are eligible to vote in the May 31 elections. This applies not only to citizens of the Republic of Armenia, but also foreigners who have been registered as residents of Yerevan at least for the past one year. Only soldiers in active military service are not eligible to vote in these elections.
Q. How to check whether you are on a voter register or not?
A. Voter lists are pasted on all polling stations 40 days before the elections for voters to be able to check by visiting the station where they are supposed to or usually cast their ballot (all voters are also to be notified in writing where their polling station is). Alternatively, all eligible voters can visit the Central Election Commission’s official website at www.elections.am
Q. If you don’t find your name on the voter list…
A. Before election day: If a voter finds an inaccuracy in the voter list, s/he should turn to the community administration office or (until May 26) to the district’s passport department. Call on 8220 for additional information on the hotline.
On election day: To get his/her name on the extended voter list a voter should turn to a given community’s court of general jurisdiction or the police department. For turning to court, a voter should have an authorizing statement from the chairman of the polling precinct election commission. No such document is needed, though, if a voter directly turns to police. The sample form of application for introducing changes in the voter list is available at the following website: www.yerevanelections.wordpress.com. The addresses and telephone numbers of courts are available at the website www.court.am.
Q. When do the polls open?
A. Polling stations will be open to voters from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm on May 31. The voter who has been in the voting station at the polls closing time still has the right to cast his or her ballot.
Q. What requisites are needed for voting?
A. A voter must carry an identification document to the polling station and produce it when required to be allowed to cast a ballot. An identification document is a passport, a document substituting for a passport, a military certificate for military officers and non-commissioned officers, and a military card for other servicemen.
Q. How to fill in the ballot-paper?
A. A ballot-paper will be considered valid only if marked correctly. A “V” sign must be put in the box next to the name of the party or bloc mentioned in the ballot-paper.
Q. If your are unable to mark the ballot yourself…
A. After informing the election commission chairman about this circumstance, a voter can invite any person, except a proxy for any party, to the voting booth for assistance. Otherwise, the presence of another person in the voting booth is forbidden.
Q. If your passport validity has expired…
A. A voter whose passport validity has expired still has the right to vote. This circumstance is no ground for disqualifying a voter.
RISKS OF MALPRACTICES
Q. Is my ballot secret?
A. No one is allowed to know who you voted for. Moreover, inside the polling station it is prohibited for voters themselves to show or declare who they have voted or are going to vote for. Those failing to respect this provision in either circumstance will be prosecuted by law.
Q. If you are offered a bribe…
A. Both giving and receiving a bribe in exchange for a vote is considered a crime and those involved in this malpractice will be prosecuted by law (facing from 3 to 6 years in jail).
Q. Why passport data have been collected (from some) in the pre-election period and how this data can be used?
A. First, no one has the right to demand a passport or its data from you. But if you have given it to anyone at any point, don’t worry.
Passport data can be used only if you don’t go to the polls and someone else can vote instead of you using your data. Otherwise, the data cannot be used to establish what party or bloc a voter cast his ballot for. The ballot paper does not mention either the name or passport data of the voter. Psychological pressure is the only effect of this method and sometimes it does work.
Q. Are there [hidden] cameras inside the voting booth?
A. There are no cameras inside the voting booth, although some distributing election bribes might mislead those whom they give the bribes that cameras are installed inside the voting booths to monitor whether they vote for the candidate they were given money to vote for. Don’t believe that, these are groundless threats.
Q. Is taking a picture with your mobile allowed inside the voting booth?
A. This was a reported practice during the latest parliamentary and presidential elections when a voter would receive money for his vote only if he or she could prove it with a picture of the filled ballot paper taken with the aid of a mobile phone camera. But the Central Election Commission prohibits the use of a mobile phone for any purposes or the use of any other photographing or recording device inside the voting booth.
Q. Will your passport be stamped?
A. Unlike the previous presidential elections when a voter’s passport was stamped to prove his participation in the vote (to prevent repeated voting), this time the Central Election Commission has decided not to use this practice.
A spokesman for the opposition Armenian National Congress recently claimed that they had revealed 300 repeated names of citizens (with identical names, surnames, middle names, dates of birth), in different districts: “And repeated not once, but five to ten times,” said Arman Musinyan, emphasizing that the practice of stamping voter passports would minimize the risk of repeated voting.
ELECTION RESULTS
Q. When are results expected?
A. Early (preliminary) results will be announced no later than 24 hours after the end of the voting.
Final results will be announce within seven days after the vote, i.e. by June 7 when recounts of paper ballots (if required) are to be completed in election commissions.
Q. What is the procedure of protesting the vote results?
A. Applications demanding a recount at election commissions can be submitted only to a corresponding precinct election commission by 2.00 pm on the day after the election. A recount is to be done within five days.
Q. Can election results be appealed at the Constitutional Court?
A. Results of only nationwide elections, such as parliamentary and presidential elections, can be appealed at the Constitutional Court. Elections to the Yerevan municipal assembly are considered to be a local election and to appeal the results of these elections parties may appeal to the court of general jurisdiction.
Below is some basic information of interest to both voters and observers in the May 31 Yerevan elections compiled by ArmeniaNow reporter Gayane Abrahamyan in a “digestible” Question-and-Answer format. While media attention in the last four weeks of campaigning has been reasonably focused on what politicians promise and analysts predict for the upcoming elections of the Yerevan municipal assembly, the legislatively imposed “day of silence” on the eve of the vote seems a natural time for reflection on what the current elections are and what they mean for voters and political parties in the city that is officially home to more than a third of Armenia’s 3.2 million-strong population.
Below is some basic information of interest to both voters and observers in the May 31 Yerevan elections compiled by ArmeniaNow reporter Gayane Abrahamyan in a “digestible” Question-and-Answer format.
Information on election coverage and returns may also be found at www.caucasusreports.com sponsored by International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and prepared by journalists who include ArmeniaNow staff.
ABOUT THOSE SEEKING ELECTION
Q. What are the May 31 elections and what is their significance?
A. On Sunday, May 31, eligible voters in Armenian capital Yerevan will go to the polls to elect a 65-seat municipal assembly that they will entrust with electing the city’s next mayor at the first session.
What makes the current elections significant is that they enable citizens in Yerevan to elect, even though indirectly, their mayor, something they have been unable to do since 1995 when the constitution adopted in a referendum made the mayor of Yerevan a president-appointed post. This also in practice implied that the mayor would be more dependent on and accountable to the head of state than to his or her constituencies, i.e. the townsfolk. This ‘undemocratic’ model of city governance had to be revised after the 2005 constitutional reform that was part of the country’s commitments to the Council of Europe.
Q. Who are we electing?
A. Only political parties or blocs are eligible to participate in the elections to the Yerevan municipal assembly under the system of proportional representation. The top candidate on each party’s ticket is the likely candidate for the mayoral post, i.e. by voting for the party voters also cast their vote for its top candidate to become mayor.
Six political parties, namely (in no particular order) the Republican Party of Armenia, Prosperous Armenia, Orinats Yerkir, the Labor Socialist Party of Armenia, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and the People’s Party, and one bloc, namely the Armenian National Congress, are participating in the upcoming elections.
Q. Is there a hurdle for political forces to clear to be voted into the municipal assembly?
A. Political parties must poll at least 7 percent of the popular vote and blocs need to clear a 9-percent hurdle to be represented in the assembly. Some experts consider this barrier high enough to amount to discrimination against smaller parties. Despite months of debates this provision has remained unchanged.
Q. How will the mayor be elected?
A. Any political party or bloc that sweeps the election polling more than 50 percent of the vote will automatically be entitled to install its top candidate as mayor. If none of the participating forces manages to win an outright majority, the mayor will be elected, by a simple vote, from among the candidates nominated by the forces voted into the assembly.
An amendment made in the electoral code in January introduced the notion of so-called bonus, which means that if any party or bloc manages to gain 40 percent of the vote, an additional 10 percent will be given to it as a bonus to form an absolute majority and become entitled to have its top candidate as new mayor.
ABOUT THOSE ELECTING
Q. Who is eligible to vote?
A. All citizens who have attained the age of 18 and have a permanent legal address or at least have been registered for a year in Yerevan are eligible to vote in the May 31 elections. This applies not only to citizens of the Republic of Armenia, but also foreigners who have been registered as residents of Yerevan at least for the past one year. Only soldiers in active military service are not eligible to vote in these elections.
Q. How to check whether you are on a voter register or not?
A. Voter lists are pasted on all polling stations 40 days before the elections for voters to be able to check by visiting the station where they are supposed to or usually cast their ballot (all voters are also to be notified in writing where their polling station is). Alternatively, all eligible voters can visit the Central Election Commission’s official website at www.elections.am
Q. If you don’t find your name on the voter list…
A. Before election day: If a voter finds an inaccuracy in the voter list, s/he should turn to the community administration office or (until May 26) to the district’s passport department. Call on 8220 for additional information on the hotline.
On election day: To get his/her name on the extended voter list a voter should turn to a given community’s court of general jurisdiction or the police department. For turning to court, a voter should have an authorizing statement from the chairman of the polling precinct election commission. No such document is needed, though, if a voter directly turns to police. The sample form of application for introducing changes in the voter list is available at the following website: www.yerevanelections.wordpress.com. The addresses and telephone numbers of courts are available at the website www.court.am.
Q. When do the polls open?
A. Polling stations will be open to voters from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm on May 31. The voter who has been in the voting station at the polls closing time still has the right to cast his or her ballot.
Q. What requisites are needed for voting?
A. A voter must carry an identification document to the polling station and produce it when required to be allowed to cast a ballot. An identification document is a passport, a document substituting for a passport, a military certificate for military officers and non-commissioned officers, and a military card for other servicemen.
Q. How to fill in the ballot-paper?
A. A ballot-paper will be considered valid only if marked correctly. A “V” sign must be put in the box next to the name of the party or bloc mentioned in the ballot-paper.
Q. If your are unable to mark the ballot yourself…
A. After informing the election commission chairman about this circumstance, a voter can invite any person, except a proxy for any party, to the voting booth for assistance. Otherwise, the presence of another person in the voting booth is forbidden.
Q. If your passport validity has expired…
A. A voter whose passport validity has expired still has the right to vote. This circumstance is no ground for disqualifying a voter.
RISKS OF MALPRACTICES
Q. Is my ballot secret?
A. No one is allowed to know who you voted for. Moreover, inside the polling station it is prohibited for voters themselves to show or declare who they have voted or are going to vote for. Those failing to respect this provision in either circumstance will be prosecuted by law.
Q. If you are offered a bribe…
A. Both giving and receiving a bribe in exchange for a vote is considered a crime and those involved in this malpractice will be prosecuted by law (facing from 3 to 6 years in jail).
Q. Why passport data have been collected (from some) in the pre-election period and how this data can be used?
A. First, no one has the right to demand a passport or its data from you. But if you have given it to anyone at any point, don’t worry.
Passport data can be used only if you don’t go to the polls and someone else can vote instead of you using your data. Otherwise, the data cannot be used to establish what party or bloc a voter cast his ballot for. The ballot paper does not mention either the name or passport data of the voter. Psychological pressure is the only effect of this method and sometimes it does work.
Q. Are there [hidden] cameras inside the voting booth?
A. There are no cameras inside the voting booth, although some distributing election bribes might mislead those whom they give the bribes that cameras are installed inside the voting booths to monitor whether they vote for the candidate they were given money to vote for. Don’t believe that, these are groundless threats.
Q. Is taking a picture with your mobile allowed inside the voting booth?
A. This was a reported practice during the latest parliamentary and presidential elections when a voter would receive money for his vote only if he or she could prove it with a picture of the filled ballot paper taken with the aid of a mobile phone camera. But the Central Election Commission prohibits the use of a mobile phone for any purposes or the use of any other photographing or recording device inside the voting booth.
Q. Will your passport be stamped?
A. Unlike the previous presidential elections when a voter’s passport was stamped to prove his participation in the vote (to prevent repeated voting), this time the Central Election Commission has decided not to use this practice.
A spokesman for the opposition Armenian National Congress recently claimed that they had revealed 300 repeated names of citizens (with identical names, surnames, middle names, dates of birth), in different districts: “And repeated not once, but five to ten times,” said Arman Musinyan, emphasizing that the practice of stamping voter passports would minimize the risk of repeated voting.
ELECTION RESULTS
Q. When are results expected?
A. Early (preliminary) results will be announced no later than 24 hours after the end of the voting.
Final results will be announce within seven days after the vote, i.e. by June 7 when recounts of paper ballots (if required) are to be completed in election commissions.
Q. What is the procedure of protesting the vote results?
A. Applications demanding a recount at election commissions can be submitted only to a corresponding precinct election commission by 2.00 pm on the day after the election. A recount is to be done within five days.
Q. Can election results be appealed at the Constitutional Court?
A. Results of only nationwide elections, such as parliamentary and presidential elections, can be appealed at the Constitutional Court. Elections to the Yerevan municipal assembly are considered to be a local election and to appeal the results of these elections parties may appeal to the court of general jurisdiction.