The Democratic Party of Armenia does not recognize the decision of the Central Electoral Commission not to register the party’s candidate for Prime Minister Tigran Arzakantsyan; it considers this to be political bias. We think this decision was made under pressure, as the Democratic Party has become a serious force, and Tigran Arzakantsyan has gained such a reputation that enjoys the trust of tens of thousands of voters.

It should be noted that all party documents have been accepted and registered; the law has no retroactive force. The decision will be appealed in court soon.

The removal of the leader of the Democratic Party calls into question the legitimacy of the 20 June elections in general. It is obvious that the Central Electoral Commission will make such decisions more than once; and this allows us to doubt the further justice of the election results. Let’s protect the state together from any illegal steps.

It should be reminded that at the June 10 regular sitting, the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia discussed the issue of registration of Tigran Arzakantsyan, a candidate included in the electoral list of the Democratic Party of Armenia.

CEC Chairman Tigran Mukuchyan said that they had received a letter from the Passport and Visa Department of the Police, according to which the police had refused to issue a certificate to Tigran Arzakantsyan regarding being only a citizen of the Republic of Armenia for the last 4 years and residing permanently in the RA for the last 4 years.

He presented that Part 3 of Article 87 of the Electoral Code stipulates:

The registration of a candidate included in the electoral lists of a political party shall be declared invalid, where by virtue of facts having emerged after the registration: by which he or she does not have the right to be elected.

The members of the Commission by 5 votes “for” and 1 “against” decided to reject due to the inaccuracies in the documents.