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ARMENIA'S POPULATION = 2,800,000; REGISTERED VOTERS = 2,485,844. MISTAKE OR DECEIT?
By Gayane Abrahamyan
30.03.12 | 15:07
ArmeniaNow reporter
Members of Armenia's opposition parties are saying that substantial
inaccuracies on voting lists, which will become the "greatest
opportunity for violations during the upcoming elections."
Today Heritage Party will appeal to the Prosecutor's Office demanding
to carry out an investigation regarding the inaccuracies of the
voting lists.
According to the official data reported this week, the number of
voters in Armenia is 2,485,844; this index has been increased since
the Presidential elections in 2008 by 170,000 voters.
Many believe that such a growth is impossible given the rate of
emigration, as well as the preliminary data of the census taken last
year, according to which about 2,800,000 people live in Armenia.
"These are simply absurd figures. Theoretically it is impossible
that the number of people under 18 is only 400,000 in Armenia. The
exaggeration of the electorate's number is the simplest method of
ballot box stuffing, which is attempted to be implemented by the
authorities," head of Heritage faction Styopa Safaryan told ArmeniaNow.
By the time the Police in its statement published on Thursday insist
that the assumptions about the figure's being exaggerated "do not
correspond to reality," information to the contrary had been posted
on Facebook.
Edgar Tamaryan, 25, a Facebook user, found his relatives - who in
fact live in Georgia - included on the voter registration list as
living in Yerevan.
Further, more than 100 people were "registered" as living at that
same address.
"I have checked the names and last names of those people (registered
in that apartment) one by one, and to my surprise I found a person
with my last name - Tamaryan (Nodarin) Aigaz," Tamaryan writes.
"Because Tamaryan is a unique last name, and all of them who have
that last name are our relatives, it turned out that Tamaryan Aigaz
is a resident of Nardevan village. Studying that list more carefully,
I saw that all the 101 people [registered at one and the same address]
are from Nardevan. My mother is from Georgia's Nardevan village by
birth, and she has even recognized one of her classmates [named on
the list] and some other residents of our village," Tamaryan writes.
A representative of the Passport and Visa Department of the Police of
Armenia told ArmeniaNow that "probably it is again a technical matter,"
and they are aware of it and have already taken corresponding measures
to check the lists.
From: A. Papazian
By Gayane Abrahamyan
30.03.12 | 15:07
ArmeniaNow reporter
Members of Armenia's opposition parties are saying that substantial
inaccuracies on voting lists, which will become the "greatest
opportunity for violations during the upcoming elections."
Today Heritage Party will appeal to the Prosecutor's Office demanding
to carry out an investigation regarding the inaccuracies of the
voting lists.
According to the official data reported this week, the number of
voters in Armenia is 2,485,844; this index has been increased since
the Presidential elections in 2008 by 170,000 voters.
Many believe that such a growth is impossible given the rate of
emigration, as well as the preliminary data of the census taken last
year, according to which about 2,800,000 people live in Armenia.
"These are simply absurd figures. Theoretically it is impossible
that the number of people under 18 is only 400,000 in Armenia. The
exaggeration of the electorate's number is the simplest method of
ballot box stuffing, which is attempted to be implemented by the
authorities," head of Heritage faction Styopa Safaryan told ArmeniaNow.
By the time the Police in its statement published on Thursday insist
that the assumptions about the figure's being exaggerated "do not
correspond to reality," information to the contrary had been posted
on Facebook.
Edgar Tamaryan, 25, a Facebook user, found his relatives - who in
fact live in Georgia - included on the voter registration list as
living in Yerevan.
Further, more than 100 people were "registered" as living at that
same address.
"I have checked the names and last names of those people (registered
in that apartment) one by one, and to my surprise I found a person
with my last name - Tamaryan (Nodarin) Aigaz," Tamaryan writes.
"Because Tamaryan is a unique last name, and all of them who have
that last name are our relatives, it turned out that Tamaryan Aigaz
is a resident of Nardevan village. Studying that list more carefully,
I saw that all the 101 people [registered at one and the same address]
are from Nardevan. My mother is from Georgia's Nardevan village by
birth, and she has even recognized one of her classmates [named on
the list] and some other residents of our village," Tamaryan writes.
A representative of the Passport and Visa Department of the Police of
Armenia told ArmeniaNow that "probably it is again a technical matter,"
and they are aware of it and have already taken corresponding measures
to check the lists.
From: A. Papazian