Voters given individual pens, told to maintain social distancing in Artsakh election runoff

YEREVAN, APRIL 14, ARMENPRESS/ARTSAKHPRESS. Amid fears of the coronavirus, voters in the Artsakh presidential runoff are told to maintain social distancing in the polling stations, the head of the 1/8 polling station of Stepanakert Naira Petrosyan said.

She said voters are provided with face masks, gloves and single use individual pens at the polling stations.

“Observers and the news media are monitoring the elections at the polling stations. So far, no violations have been recorded and the voting is proceeding normally,” she said.

282 polling stations, including 1 in Yerevan for citizens of Artsakh, were opened as of 08:00, April 14.

President of the Free Fatherland Party Arayik Harutyunyan and incumbent Foreign Minister Masis Mayilyan are running for the presidency in the second round. They garnered 49,26% and 26,4% of votes respectively in the first round.

103,637 people are eligible to vote.

Mayilyan, however, has called on voters not to participate in the election due to the danger of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

As of the latest data, there are 6 cases of the infection in Artsakh. A state of emergency is enforced in the country.

Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan