Yesterday it was officially released that the Prosperous Armenia party will record the voting process on May 6 from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m. in all the 1982 precincts of Armenia, that is the ballot counting. This was informed by the campaign office of the PA.
The rumors that the PA was going to film the whole voting process has been circulating for awhile. And about 10 days ago media outlets released information that Armenia has already received 2000 video cameras imported by the PA. It is interesting that the campaign also points out that the party won’t pay any money for cameras and that the cameras will be brought by the party poll-watchers. “We have told our representatives to bring their video cameras and record the entire process,” Head of the PAP campaign headquarters Vardan Vardanyan told Tert.am. Armenia’s election law allows persons standing proxies for political forces to video the election process except for persons in the polling booths. Yesterday this initiative of the PA was actively discussed in social networks to understand the use of the wide-spread filming of the process. The most effective use, as many people expect, would be the exclusion of cases of ballot stuffing (the government has already started falsifying in a more civilized manner). When the police stated that in Armenia the number of voters increased by 160,000 compared to 2008 and is currently 2,4 million, the concerns have become bigger. People thought that broad-scale “figure drawing” would take place. There is no use to argue with the police because the ones that criticize don’t have any information about the actual databases. And now when the PA provides video filming many people hope that it won’t be very easy to exaggerate the results and the actual number of voters. It means that the government is given a very hard time. To what extent are these hopes justified? Let us first mention that the right of filming of the voting process is enacted by the new election law. This means that there should be no serious hurdles in the process. But this is only at the first sight. Article 6 (Publicity of Elections) of the RA Election Code reads, “The sessions of the election commissions as well as the voting process can be video filmed and photo shot by party poll-watchers, observers, journalists without violating the principle of secrecy of the ballot.” The whole fascination is hidden in the last words – secrecy of ballot. The thing is that not only the voting result is considered an element of secrecy but also the participation in the voting process. This was brought up by the CEC chair Tigran Mukuchyan to 168-Zham newspaper several weeks ago. “During the signing process the voter’s voting right is being exercised, which is also considered one of the elements of secrecy. Therefore, video filming and photo shooting should be done in a way in order not to violate the secrecy of voting,” mentioned Mukuchyan and added that it’s necessary to decide in what way the filming should take place in order not to violate the secrecy element of the voting process. It means that if you are going to the precinct you have the right to keep that information secret and not have it publicized anywhere. Taking into account the fact that it’s impossible to go to the precinct in a covert way, the mentioned provision of the code become absurd with its meaning. But this provision exists and that is the reason why the government would say that it wasn’t a good idea to publicize the voter lists. But how can the filming be organized without violating the voting secrecy of voters? Mukuchyan mentioned that the CEC is preparing a draft regarding this matter and closer to the parliamentary elections we’ll have explanations and clarifications in what way the filming can take place in order not to violate the voting secrecy. So there is a possibility that the CEC may offer such methods of filming that the use of the 2000 video cameras may become quite limited and the expected results cannot be registered. There is also another nuance. The video, which includes violations, may not become a material for evidence to take to the court. They might require some expertise and other examination to understand whether it’s edited. And everybody is well-aware of the results of Armenian expertise. Nonetheless, despite the difficulties, the filming process will at least have a restraining effect and might reduce the number of violations. The government has been very resistant to the placement of cameras in all precincts. And now it’s been done by the Prosperous Armenia. And here we have the most important question. The question is how will the results of the recording be used after the PA is satisfied by the number of ballots it receives after elections? Or will the recordings of all the 1982 precincts ever be used? Also, we should find out what parties the PA will invite to watch these videos – ANC, RPA or ARF? Many think that since the PA is in the same oversight committee with the ANC and the ARF they will equally painstakingly struggle against the RPA. This means that the file of evidence of violations can also be used by the ANC. But we should also never forget that the PA is a part of the ruling coalition. At this point, it’s hard to say who will the PA jointly watch the videos. But we hope that all this won’t turn into a theater performance. Although the head of the PA campaign office mentioned that the cameras are the property of the PA proxies and volunteers and that the party hadn’t spent any money on that we all know it’s not quite so. And the purchase of 2000 video cameras requires pretty big funds. If these cameras are not going to be used it turns out that the PA throw its money to the hole. And it’s a little difficult to believe that.