The Constitutional Court of Armenia conducted an experiment with ballot envelopes.

On the fifth day of hearings on the claims of seven opposition forces, the Constitutional Court of Armenia partially satisfied the petitions of "Strong Armenia," checked the envelopes for ballots directly in the courtroom, and limited further submissions of petitions.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", seven parties challenged the Central Election Commission's final decision on the parliamentary elections in the Constitutional Court. The court combined all complaints into one proceeding. It will announce its decision no later than July 4. "Prosperous Armenia," which, according to the CEC, did not overcome the four percent barrier, demanded on the second day of the process to change the vote counting mechanism. On June 28, the third day of hearings, the CEC proposed the court to reject all claims demanding a review of the election results or a new vote. During the session on June 29, representatives of the Karapetyan and Kocharyan blocs stated about the vulnerability and suggestibility of voters.

The session of the Constitutional Court on June 30 began in closed mode, after which it resumed in an open format. The closed part of the session addressed issues related to the voting of military personnel and examined documents with restricted access.

The Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Arman Dilanyan, announced that the court partially satisfied the petitions of "Strong Armenia": the conclusion of sociologist Mariam Mkhtaryan was attached to the case as evidence, but the court refused to summon her to the process as a witness. The court rejected the petitions of "Prosperous Armenia," but according to Dilanyan, the issues they raised are likely to be reflected in the court's final decision, reports "News-Armenia."

The court also received physical evidence from the CEC - ballots and envelopes, but refused to appoint an independent examination of them. The examination was conducted directly in the courtroom.

Ballot envelopes are illuminated with side lighting

CEC Secretary Arman Smbatyan delivered five envelopes from each of the 27 territorial commissions and five envelopes directly from the CEC to the court. For verification, a ballot was placed in an envelope, and it was checked whether it was visible.

Smbatyan insisted that the design of the envelopes does not allow determining for whom the voter voted. The lawyer of "Prosperous Armenia," Aram Orbelyan, who personally examined the envelopes, came to a different conclusion: some of them are sufficiently transparent in daylight. "Under certain lighting and angle of view, the transparency of the envelope allows seeing its contents," he stated, noting that electric light was on in the courtroom at the time of the experiment. Orbelyan reminded that the problem was recorded in at least several polling stations, reports News.am.

As a result of considering the petitions, the court limited the parties' right to further submissions: without this measure, in the judges' opinion, the process risks being prolonged.

The ruling party acknowledges bribery but opposes the annulment of the elections

After the session, Armenia's Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan, representing "Civil Contract" in court, commented on the process. She divided the opposition forces into two groups: the arguments of "Strong Armenia," "Armenia," "Prosperous Armenia," and "Wings of Unity" are similar in content; the positions of "For the Republic" and "Democracy, Law and Discipline," which point to voter bribery, are fundamentally different.

According to Galyan, "Civil Contract" generally agrees with the arguments of these two forces regarding the scale of bribery. "We unequivocally agree with these arguments and only disagree on one point: that this could lead to the declaration of the election results as invalid," she stated.

When asked whether "Civil Contract" is ready to recognize the results of the elections held under conditions of large-scale bribery, Galyan replied that the correct measure would be criminal prosecution of the violators. "Every person involved in a specific case, if their guilt is confirmed, should be held to the strictest responsibility," the minister indicated.

Galyan also rejected claims that the ruling party is already distributing positions while the court continues hearings. She added that she considers the opposition's claims to be futile, although the final word will be with the court.

"The election results are valid until they are declared invalid. What is happening in "Civil Contract" is a manifestation of democracy: positions are not distributed, people are elected," News.am quotes her words.

A reference on "Caucasian Knot" has been published: "Elections 2026 to the National Assembly (parliament) of Armenia".