Opposition arrests call into question the legitimacy of Armenia’s elections: Andrey Kolesnik

Andrey Kolesnik, a member of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, commented on the parliamentary elections held in Armenia to Alpha News.

“The elections took place, and the electoral commission announced that there were no irregularities that could have influenced the will of the citizens. But how could there have been none, when the opposition was rounded up and all opposition leaders were isolated, some placed under house arrest, others sent elsewhere. Moreover, the entire European Union came there, laid out its positions, and effectively conducted illegal campaigning. How can it be said that there were no processes that could have influenced the expression of the will of the people? Violations were everywhere. But, as I understand it, there will be a recount, and somehow they will eventually arrive at a common denominator,” Kolesnik said.

According to the deputy, if the ruling party in another country had allowed such conduct during elections, the reaction would have been entirely different.

“I have participated in elections of various levels many times, but, frankly speaking, what happened in Armenia surprised me. I was secretary of a regional party branch, and God forbid that I should have had such violations, such objections, and such actions on the part of United Russia, on the part of the ruling party, during my elections. I think the whole world would have risen up, even if those had been regional elections. But here we have national elections, and half the opposition was arrested and isolated from participating in the vote. So I honestly don’t even know whether these elections can be considered legitimate at all,” Kolesnik concluded.