22:00, 5 May 2012

Armenian Constitutional Court dismisses MPs' claim to abolish ban on publication of lists of voters who voted

Today, the Constitutional Court of Armenia has denied the claim lodged by Deputies of the National Assembly to abolish the prohibition stipulated by the Electoral Code to disclose the list of those voters, who have actually cast their ballot papers.

In total 27 MPs, most of them being members of the faction of the "Prosperous Armenia" Party (PAP), had appealed to the Constitutional Court asking to allow publication of the lists of voters who have actually voted at the elections.

According to Amayak Ovanisyan, a candidate for an MP from the PAP, after studying the voters' lists, they discovered more than 400,000 non-existent voters. According to his story, in order to detect violations at elections, it is necessary to make the list of voters who have voted public.

In their lawsuit the MPs demanded to recognize those provisions of the Electoral Code of Armenia, which prohibit publishing the signed voters' lists, as unconstitutional.

The Constitutional Court has ruled decided to dismiss the lawsuit of the MPs and held that the challenged provisions comply with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.

Author: Lilit Ovanisyan

Source: CK correspondent