Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Elections to the City Council of the Armenian capital Yerevan held on Sunday and won by the ruling party -- according to preliminary tallies -- were marred by electoral fraud and interference reported by observers.

Local media reported that the election process can be regarded as "the worst election of the past few years."

Since the opening of the polling stations, 420 violations have been recorded by Transparency International observers at the Council of Elders election.

The violations include bribes, attempts of ballot box stuffing, repeat voting, violations of voter confidentiality, pressure, failure to record violations, etc., according to the observers.

Reportedly, at one of the polling stations, the passports of the voters were taken away, votes were cast instead of them, and then the passports were given back with money in them.

Observers reported more than 250 election-related complaints.

Seven parties had been registered to stand in the election. According to preliminary tallies, after processing of the ballots the ruling Republican Party won the elections with 55.89 percent of votes.

Prosperous Armenia ranks second with 23.07 percent, while the bloc of parties "Hello, Yerevan" is third with 8.48 percent. The opposition Armenian National Congress gained 4.39 percent, while Dashnaktsutiun has 3.8 percent, Orinats Erkir (the Rule of Law) party has 3.73 percent, and Arakelutyun (Mission) party just 0.64 percent.

According to the preliminary data, three political parties will be represented in the Council of Elders, namely, the Republican Party of Armenia, Prosperous Armenia and Hello, Yerevan.

The elections were monitored by over 6,600 local observers and 27 organizations. International organizations were represented by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

The Council of Elders is the supreme body of local self-government in Yerevan, which exercises control over the work of the mayor. The Council, which includes 65 people, elects the mayor of the
city.

The Council members are elected solely by party lists. If a party or a bloc gains more than 50 percent of the vote, the top person on its list becomes the mayor of Yerevan. Otherwise, the mayor is elected by the Council of Elders. Accordingly, the head of the proportional list of the Republican Party, Taron Margaryan, is re-elected as the Mayor of Yerevan.