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Vote 2013: Tradition of pay-for-vote expected to be non-issue in
presidential election
Vote 2013 | 20.12.12 | 15:40
Stepan Safaryan
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
While some people in Armenia still look forward to election bribes,
immediate participants and experts believe it won't be crucial for the
February election results. They point out inflated voter lists and
abuse of administrative resources as the main means of possible fraud
in the coming presidential race.
Enlarge Photo
Varuzhan Hoktanyan
Heritage party secretary Stepan Safaryan, who took part in the special
election earlier this month for a vacant place in the parliament, told
ArmeniaNow that during the pre-election campaign many people -
residents of Avan district, from where he was running, came up to him
with outright demand to give money if he wanted their votes.
`They would mostly ask for 10,000 drams ($25). I told them I did not
need such voters. They felt offended,' says Safaryan.
There were a few ridiculous cases reported by media in the May
parliamentary elections when voters complained that they had not been
offered bribes while their neighbors had been. Despite the recent
media speculations that in the coming election bribe rates would reach
20,000 drams ($50), today, Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaktsutyn board member Vahan Hovhannisyan, for example, says that
after one of Armenia's wealthiest people, Prosperous Armenia Party
leader Gagik Tsarukyan's decision not to run for president, it is
quite likely that `no money will be distributed'.
`PAP did not nominate a candidate; hence there is no money expectation
from that side. Consequently, the Republicans will not be motivated to
give out bribes, either. The political forces will not have a stimulus
to encourage their potential electorates with gifts or money,'
Hovhannissyan told the press on Wednesday.
Safarayan, who lost the special election to his opponent Republican
Roberd Sargsyan, Yerevan mayor Taron Margaryan's brother-in-law, says
the outcome of the game is determined by the administrative resource
abuse in favor of one candidate.
`When people see that the schools, taxi services, the city hall,
district authorities all work for one person, they think the game is
over and don't even bother to go out [to polling stations],' he says.
Varuzhan Hoktanyan heading Transparency International anti-corruption
center, which has been monitoring elections in Armenia since 2003,
says by international assessments 30-40 percent among the
election-bribe recipients do not vote for the candidate or political
force they had been bribed to vote for. Besides inflated voter lists,
election bribes, bribing district election commissions, Hoktanyan
points out also the issue of civil servants.
`People say if someone else comes to power, they'll lose their jobs.
In this case it doesn't even necessarily take a bribe to make them
vote, people will simply elect the ruling force, and that is becoming
a serious challenge,' says Hoktanyan.
http://armenianow.com/vote_2013/42181/vote_2013_tradition_of_payforvote_expected_to_be_n onissue_in_presidential_election
presidential election
Vote 2013 | 20.12.12 | 15:40
Stepan Safaryan
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
While some people in Armenia still look forward to election bribes,
immediate participants and experts believe it won't be crucial for the
February election results. They point out inflated voter lists and
abuse of administrative resources as the main means of possible fraud
in the coming presidential race.
Enlarge Photo
Varuzhan Hoktanyan
Heritage party secretary Stepan Safaryan, who took part in the special
election earlier this month for a vacant place in the parliament, told
ArmeniaNow that during the pre-election campaign many people -
residents of Avan district, from where he was running, came up to him
with outright demand to give money if he wanted their votes.
`They would mostly ask for 10,000 drams ($25). I told them I did not
need such voters. They felt offended,' says Safaryan.
There were a few ridiculous cases reported by media in the May
parliamentary elections when voters complained that they had not been
offered bribes while their neighbors had been. Despite the recent
media speculations that in the coming election bribe rates would reach
20,000 drams ($50), today, Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaktsutyn board member Vahan Hovhannisyan, for example, says that
after one of Armenia's wealthiest people, Prosperous Armenia Party
leader Gagik Tsarukyan's decision not to run for president, it is
quite likely that `no money will be distributed'.
`PAP did not nominate a candidate; hence there is no money expectation
from that side. Consequently, the Republicans will not be motivated to
give out bribes, either. The political forces will not have a stimulus
to encourage their potential electorates with gifts or money,'
Hovhannissyan told the press on Wednesday.
Safarayan, who lost the special election to his opponent Republican
Roberd Sargsyan, Yerevan mayor Taron Margaryan's brother-in-law, says
the outcome of the game is determined by the administrative resource
abuse in favor of one candidate.
`When people see that the schools, taxi services, the city hall,
district authorities all work for one person, they think the game is
over and don't even bother to go out [to polling stations],' he says.
Varuzhan Hoktanyan heading Transparency International anti-corruption
center, which has been monitoring elections in Armenia since 2003,
says by international assessments 30-40 percent among the
election-bribe recipients do not vote for the candidate or political
force they had been bribed to vote for. Besides inflated voter lists,
election bribes, bribing district election commissions, Hoktanyan
points out also the issue of civil servants.
`People say if someone else comes to power, they'll lose their jobs.
In this case it doesn't even necessarily take a bribe to make them
vote, people will simply elect the ruling force, and that is becoming
a serious challenge,' says Hoktanyan.
http://armenianow.com/vote_2013/42181/vote_2013_tradition_of_payforvote_expected_to_be_n onissue_in_presidential_election