Armenian former presidential hopeful sues election body
By Sabina Idayatova
Former Armenian presidential candidate and leader of the Heritage Party, Raffi Hovannisyan, has filed a lawsuit to the Administrative Court of Armenia over the inaction of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), local media reports.
Hovannisyan demands to annul the CEC decision on the final results of the presidential elections held on February 18, and to oblige the CEC to include the market value and cost of maintaining over 1,600 election headquarters, as well as preparation of campaign posters, in the campaign expenditure of presidential candidate Serzh Sargsyan, who won the election.
The date of the court hearing has not yet been decided.
Seven candidates had joined the election race in Armenia. According to official data, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan won the elections with 58.64 percent of the votes. Hovannisyan ranked second with 36.74 percent.
Following the official announcement of final presidential election results on February 25, Hovannisyan submitted a statement to the CEC demanding invalidation of the registration of Sargsyan's candidacy at the elections. He explained the claim with the fact that Sargsyan's declaration of election expenses did not include the money spent on renting over 1,000 campaign headquarters and production of posters. According to the claimant, these costs exceed the amount prescribed by the law, which 'may be grounds for invalidation'. However, the CEC unanimously rejected this claim.
Hovannisyan still does not recognize the election results and has been conducting rallies from February 20 in the capital Yerevan and other regions.
Meanwhile, students of the public and private higher educational institutions of Gyumri took to the streets from Tuesday to protest the elections.