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May 6 2012
Armenia vote tests fragile democracy
Armenians have begun voting for a new parliament in the biggest test
of the former Soviet state's fragile democratic credentials since
disputed presidential elections in 2008 ended in fatal clashes.
The authorities promised an unprecedentedly clean contest for the
131-seat National Assembly in the hope of avoiding further turmoil
after battles between riot police and opposition supporters four years
ago left 10 people dead.
'I am for change but without drastic upheavals. We need stability,'
one voter at a polling station in the capital Yerevan, electrician
Garnik Khacheian, told AFP on Sunday.
'I voted for fairness. It's impossible to live in a country where
human rights are not observed, where there is no work and there are
the very rich and those who have nothing,' said unemployed voter
Alvard, who declined to give her surname.
Opinion polls suggested that President Serzh Sarkisian's governing
Republican party was ahead of its ally in the outgoing parliamentary
coalition - the Prosperous Armenia party, led by millionaire tycoon
and former arm-wrestling champion Gagik Tsarukian - with opposition
parties trailling.
'We expect highly active participation,' Armen Khazarian, an official
at one polling station in Yerevan, told AFP.
The Armenian National Congress opposition bloc led by former president
Levon Ter-Petrosian has alleged that the governing party is planning
to rig the vote to keep power and has threatened protests.
A pre-poll report by observers from the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) did not register systematic violations,
although media reports alleged that some parties have been bribing
potential voters.
The final day of campaigning on Friday was marred when about 150
people were injured amid chaotic scenes as scores of gas-filled
balloons exploded at a Republican party rally in Yerevan, sparking
criticism of Sarkisian for continuing the event after the incident.
Campaigning in the Caucasus state of 3.3 million people focused mainly
on issues of unemployment, poverty and emigration rather than
Armenia's long-running political disputes with neighbours Turkey and
Azerbaijan.
Landlocked and impoverished Armenia has suffered economically because
its borders with both countries are closed.
No final peace deal has been signed with Azerbaijan since the 1990s
war over the region of Nagorny Karabakh, and gun battles often erupt
along the front line.
Efforts to restore diplomatic relations with Turkey, which could have
ended decades of enmity over the World War I genocide of Armenians
under the Ottoman empire, have also been frozen.
About 2.5 million people are eligible to vote in the elections, which
are being contested by eight parties and one bloc.
Some 350 European observers and 31,000 local monitors are scrutinising
the conduct of the polls, which close at 8pm local time (0200 Monday
AEST).
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/World/2012/05/06/Armenia_vote_tests_fragile_democracy_747411.html
May 6 2012
Armenia vote tests fragile democracy
Armenians have begun voting for a new parliament in the biggest test
of the former Soviet state's fragile democratic credentials since
disputed presidential elections in 2008 ended in fatal clashes.
The authorities promised an unprecedentedly clean contest for the
131-seat National Assembly in the hope of avoiding further turmoil
after battles between riot police and opposition supporters four years
ago left 10 people dead.
'I am for change but without drastic upheavals. We need stability,'
one voter at a polling station in the capital Yerevan, electrician
Garnik Khacheian, told AFP on Sunday.
'I voted for fairness. It's impossible to live in a country where
human rights are not observed, where there is no work and there are
the very rich and those who have nothing,' said unemployed voter
Alvard, who declined to give her surname.
Opinion polls suggested that President Serzh Sarkisian's governing
Republican party was ahead of its ally in the outgoing parliamentary
coalition - the Prosperous Armenia party, led by millionaire tycoon
and former arm-wrestling champion Gagik Tsarukian - with opposition
parties trailling.
'We expect highly active participation,' Armen Khazarian, an official
at one polling station in Yerevan, told AFP.
The Armenian National Congress opposition bloc led by former president
Levon Ter-Petrosian has alleged that the governing party is planning
to rig the vote to keep power and has threatened protests.
A pre-poll report by observers from the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) did not register systematic violations,
although media reports alleged that some parties have been bribing
potential voters.
The final day of campaigning on Friday was marred when about 150
people were injured amid chaotic scenes as scores of gas-filled
balloons exploded at a Republican party rally in Yerevan, sparking
criticism of Sarkisian for continuing the event after the incident.
Campaigning in the Caucasus state of 3.3 million people focused mainly
on issues of unemployment, poverty and emigration rather than
Armenia's long-running political disputes with neighbours Turkey and
Azerbaijan.
Landlocked and impoverished Armenia has suffered economically because
its borders with both countries are closed.
No final peace deal has been signed with Azerbaijan since the 1990s
war over the region of Nagorny Karabakh, and gun battles often erupt
along the front line.
Efforts to restore diplomatic relations with Turkey, which could have
ended decades of enmity over the World War I genocide of Armenians
under the Ottoman empire, have also been frozen.
About 2.5 million people are eligible to vote in the elections, which
are being contested by eight parties and one bloc.
Some 350 European observers and 31,000 local monitors are scrutinising
the conduct of the polls, which close at 8pm local time (0200 Monday
AEST).
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/World/2012/05/06/Armenia_vote_tests_fragile_democracy_747411.html