Russian CEC representative highlights challenges in monitoring  Armenian military votes

ArmInfo.  Monitoring the voting process at polling stations with large concentrations of Armenian military personnel proved challenging during the country's parliamentary elections, according to Lyudmila Markina, a  representative of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC).  Markina shared these observations during a press conference on June  8.

Markina clarified that as part of a Commonwealth of Independent  States (CIS) monitoring mission, she observed the elections alongside  30 colleagues from the Russian electoral system. The group visited  200 polling stations across nine regions of Armenia. Among their  primary findings, Markina pointed to inadequate training among local  election commission members, which resulted in voting delays. 

"All violations that could be addressed on the spot were promptly  corrected. When that wasn't possible, we formally recorded them,"  Markina stated. "We specifically noted the voting arrangements for  large groups of military personnel at several stations. Monitoring  this process was difficult due to the classified nature of the  information. Nevertheless, this remains a highly sensitive issue that  raises concerns regarding full procedural compliance for this  category of voters."

Markina also criticized the vote-counting process, describing it as  unnecessarily complex.  "This places a colossal burden on commission  members. Despite their extensive efforts, precinct election  commission members frequently became confused while counting votes  and compiling protocols. In our view, this procedure was simply  insufficiently rehearsed," she said.

Markina also reported a highly contentious incident in the Armavir  Region, where members of the observer group had identified procedural  shortcomings and brought them to the election commission's attention.   "At polling station 16/25, individuals without identification badges  approached us and demanded that we destroy our observation report,"  Markina stated. "Furthermore, the authorities responsible for  maintaining public order at the station failed to intervene. It was a  difficult situation, but we managed to resolve it successfully," she  concluded.

Recall, parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on June 7, 2026.  The Armenian opposition reported that large groups of military  personnel were brought to polling stations in the Syunik region just  before the polling stations closed at 8:00 PM. By law, everyone  already at the polling stations must cast their vote, even after the  polling stations closed. Their voting lasted until midnight, and at  some polling stations, it ended even later. Opposition  representatives beleive this incident is yet another example of the  country's authorities using administrative resources to influence the  election outcome.  It should be added that, according to preliminary  data from the Central Election Commission of Armenia, based on the  vote count from all 2,005 polling stations, Nikol Pashinyan's ruling  Civil Contract party, Samvel Karapetyan's Strong Armenia bloc, and  second president Robert Kocharyan's Armenia bloc are all in  parliament. The remaining candidates scored below the required  threshold of 4% for parties and 8-10% for blocs. The election turnout  was 58.97%. A total of 1,476,597 citizens voted nationwide, out of  2,505,228 eligible voters. On election day, observers and journalists  reported numerous voting violations by the ruling party starting  early in the morning. Despite these reports, Pashinyan's party  secured a majority of seats in the Armenian parliament, allowing them  to form a single-party government. Pashinyan solemnly announced the  victory late that night, when data from only about 10% of polling  stations had been processed.