Epress.am News from Armenia
The Human Rights Defender in Armenia is part of the RA authorities and whatever action he takes cannot signify anything good, said chair of the Helsinki Association for Human Rights Mikael Danielyan, speaking to Epress.am and commenting on the proposals of the RA Ombudsman (Karen Andreasyan, pictured) in parliament on the use of electronic voting during elections and on nominating candidates with dual citizenship.
“In Armenia, there is definitely a subtext to whatever the Human Rights Defender does; it can’t result in anything good,” he said.
Head of the Heritage Party’s parliamentary faction Styopa (Stepan) Safaryan, also speaking to Epress.am on the bill proposed by the ombudsman, said he hasn’t yet become fully acquainted with the document, but he has a few concerns on the matter.
“In particular, we are unable to supervise voting through ballot boxes organized by the authorities, how will electronic voting be supervised? Secondly, we can’t ensure fair and transparent elections in the country, and I have great concerns on the voting of those with dual citizenship, and I think their number is quite high; it will confuse and complicate the electoral process more,” he said.
Safaryan added it would be good if the Human Rights Defender made use of the opportunity and included the Heritage Party’s proposals on publicizing electoral lists and placing video cameras at polling booths in his proposed bill.
Photo: Hraparak.am