CEC used mathematical tricks to keep PAP below the threshold: Aram Orbelyan

As part of the review of election disputes at the Constitutional Court, Aram Orbelyan, a lawyer representing the “Prosperous Armenia” party, delivered an extensive speech. He laid out the party’s legal position, demanding either that the election results be annulled, or that the mandates be redistributed, granting PAP 5 mandates.

Orbelyan presented in detail how the Central Election Commission, through mathematical manipulations during the elections, kept PAP below the qualifying threshold.

“As of 11:48 AM on June 8, PAP received 58,378 votes. We were short by just 52 votes to clear the 4-percent threshold. However, according to the official report from June 12, after a recount of votes at 637 polling stations, it turned out that our vote count had increased by 147. This means PAP actually received 58,525 votes and exceeded the legally established threshold. But what did the CEC do? By decisions dated June 11 and 14, they simply declared the results of two polling stations invalid, zeroed them out, in order to artificially push us below the threshold. This is mathematical manipulation, not an election,” he noted.