Free and fair elections should first of all be available to everyone, Armenian Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Karen Andreasyan said on Friday during a meeting with disabled people.
"We can have normal elections [without ballot stuffing and fraud] but if they are not available to all layers of the public, it means they have been unfair from the very beginning," he said.
Representatives of NGOs dealing with issues of the disabled raised definite questions concerning the electoral process. One of them observed that no one is allowed to take mentally disabled persons into the voting booth on the election day.
"We cannot know what these people can do in the polling booths. Supposedly, their ballots will not be considered during the vote count or will be changed by new ones," said Arpine Abrahamyan, a representative of an NGO dealing with disability issues.
The participants of the meeting also raised other important issues, which, as they said need an urgent solution.
Chairman of the Central Election Commission Tigran Mukuchyan said they would try to make part of polling stations accommodate the needs of disabled voters.
