U.S. backs OSCE's call to probe Armenian electoral violations
By Sabina Idayatova
The U.S. has supported the assessment of the OSCE ODIHR observation mission in the preliminary conclusions that there were some serious violations that obviously need to be investigated, US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said at a daily press briefing on Tuesday.
"ODIHR was concerned about some lack of impartiality on the part of public administration officials and the misuse of administrative resources that resulted in a blurred distinction between the activities of the state and those of the ruling party," Nuland said.
The sixth presidential elections in Armenia were held on Feb.18 with the participation of seven candidates. According to the preliminary data of the Central Election Commission, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan was reelected as the country's president, gaining 58.64 percent of the votes, while former Foreign Minister Raffi Hovannisyan came second with 36.75 percent, and former PM Hrant Bagratyan ranked third with 2.15 percent. Final results of the elections will be summed up on February 25, 2013.
French MP Nathalie Goulet told Azerbaijani news agency Trend on Wednesday that the results of the elections cannot be considered as a victory taking into account the total lack of competitors.
"As a matter of fact, Russia will remain the real master of the country, and Armenia did not win any part of sovereignty in these elections, on the contrary, it is a major loss for the population and the people of Armenia," Goulet wrote in an e-mail.
Goulet believes that the outcome of the elections will not bring about any change in the current situation, given the campaign promises on the opening in the near future of the Khojaly airport in Nagorno-Karabakh -- an Azerbaijani region occupied by Armenian armed forces since a 1990s war -- and so on.
"Armenia is and will remain a puppet in the hand of Moscow, and I hope that a real change will come from the Armenian society itself," Goulet said. She expressed hope the civil society in the country will be able to achieve real democracy, adding that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe can assist in these efforts.
Internal outrage
The Armenian police continue to investigate the 96 cases of violations reported during the polling, chief of the Armenian Police Staff Vardan Yeghiazaryan was quoted as saying.
Yeghiazaryan told journalisits that 63 of the cases concern bribes, while 16 deal with obstruction of the campaign and 12 with obstacles to the expression of free will by citizens.
He also noted that the cases of misinformation and falsification of election tallies and campaigning before election day were among the violations to be investigated.
"In 49 cases the signals were received from the election headquarters of presidential hopeful Raffi Hovannisyan; a couple of cases were reported by... Paruyr Hayrikyan and Grant Bagratyan. Moreover, citizens transmitted 43 messages."
Hovannisyan-led Heritage party's spokesman Hovsep Khurshudyan reportedly said Tuesday that his party would appeal to the Central Election Commission to challenge the results of the presidential elections.
Khurshudyan said they would call for a recount of votes at some polling stations.
"Hovannisyan will infrom about his further political steps later," Khurshudyan said. He said Hovannisyan "was in fact elected president" and cited some irregularities in the electoral process.
The supporters of Hovannisyan plan to hold a protest on Wednesday.
Hundreds of supporters held a rally in front of the CEC on Tuesday. According to some of the protesters, they were challenging the massive electoral fraud by the CEC, which announced Sargsyan`s victory in the elections.
The opposition Armenian National Congress made a statement calling the presidential poll "another shameful election".
"The Congress has repeatedly made official statements that Armenia's ruling anti-democratic, dictatorial system, in terms of ever-deepening nationwide hatred, from election to election forcefully goes toward more large-scale falsifications. And the last election is proof of this conclusion: the elections were held with full use of electoral fraud machines, all the tools and mechanisms of electoral violations were applied," the party said.
It also said that the latest elections showed that the ruling regime in Armenia, despite its promises made for five years, will never give up the use of electoral fraud "until the united will of the nation and the appropriate attitude of the international community rises against it."