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COMPETING CLAIMS TO ARMENIA'S PRESIDENCY
EurasiaNet.org, NY
Feb 19 2013
February 19, 2013 - 7:05am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan says he won a second term -- his
rival (Sargsyan told RFE/RL he prefers the word "competitor") says,
no, he did not. And with that, Armenia's stage is once again set for
a potentially protracted political fray.
Cinching a reelection was expected to be a cakewalk for Sargsyan, who
faced scattered opposition during the campaign. One rival was shot
in an alleged assassination attempt, another bailed out, accusing
the authorities of vote-rigging, and still another tried to starve
himself into true democracy.
The rest of Armenia doesn't seem to care about the presidential office
too much. Eighty percent of 1,080 Armenians questioned for a recent
survey by local pollster Sociometer don't want to be presidents of
their country.
The only other Armenian who wants to be president and put up a real
fight for it is Raffi Hovannisian, the Fresno, California-born leader
of the tiny opposition Heritage Party. Hovannisian claims that Sargsyan
stole the victory from him through widespread funny business, ranging
from bribery to ballot-box stuffing.
Speaking to reporters on election day, Hovannisian declared that
"The people have won," which is a politician's euphemism for "I have
won."But not according to the preliminary official vote count, which
put Sargsyan in the lead with just under 60 percent, while Hovannisian
lags more than 22 percentage points behind.
Fraud, declared Hovannisian, who won 70 percent of the vote in
Armenia's second-largest city of Gyumri, according to early data. His
supporters said they will make public the alleged evidence to support
his claim to the presidency.
For their part, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights' observers
have declared that the poll respected "fundamental freedoms," though
cast a disapproving eye at the alleged abuse of government resources
by Sargsyan's ruling Republican Party of Armenia.
In the meantime, in that time-honored tradition, they're staging a
protest in Yerevan's Liberty Square late this afternoon.
But Hovannisian's chances to challenge the outcome of the vote do
not look very good. Pre-election opinion polls put him far behind
the incumbent, and the helter-skelter opposition to the ruling
establishment is believed to have led to voter apathy.
"Sargsyan wins not because people trust him, but because people don't
trust the others," Alexander Iskandarian, the director of Yerevan's
Caucasus Institute think-tank, commented to the Kavkazsky Uzel news
site .
But that does not mean that Hovannisian can't kick up a storm. Local
media reports that he might launch a round-the-clock series of
street protests and legally challenge the official results, precinct
by precinct.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66573
EurasiaNet.org, NY
Feb 19 2013
February 19, 2013 - 7:05am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan says he won a second term -- his
rival (Sargsyan told RFE/RL he prefers the word "competitor") says,
no, he did not. And with that, Armenia's stage is once again set for
a potentially protracted political fray.
Cinching a reelection was expected to be a cakewalk for Sargsyan, who
faced scattered opposition during the campaign. One rival was shot
in an alleged assassination attempt, another bailed out, accusing
the authorities of vote-rigging, and still another tried to starve
himself into true democracy.
The rest of Armenia doesn't seem to care about the presidential office
too much. Eighty percent of 1,080 Armenians questioned for a recent
survey by local pollster Sociometer don't want to be presidents of
their country.
The only other Armenian who wants to be president and put up a real
fight for it is Raffi Hovannisian, the Fresno, California-born leader
of the tiny opposition Heritage Party. Hovannisian claims that Sargsyan
stole the victory from him through widespread funny business, ranging
from bribery to ballot-box stuffing.
Speaking to reporters on election day, Hovannisian declared that
"The people have won," which is a politician's euphemism for "I have
won."But not according to the preliminary official vote count, which
put Sargsyan in the lead with just under 60 percent, while Hovannisian
lags more than 22 percentage points behind.
Fraud, declared Hovannisian, who won 70 percent of the vote in
Armenia's second-largest city of Gyumri, according to early data. His
supporters said they will make public the alleged evidence to support
his claim to the presidency.
For their part, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights' observers
have declared that the poll respected "fundamental freedoms," though
cast a disapproving eye at the alleged abuse of government resources
by Sargsyan's ruling Republican Party of Armenia.
In the meantime, in that time-honored tradition, they're staging a
protest in Yerevan's Liberty Square late this afternoon.
But Hovannisian's chances to challenge the outcome of the vote do
not look very good. Pre-election opinion polls put him far behind
the incumbent, and the helter-skelter opposition to the ruling
establishment is believed to have led to voter apathy.
"Sargsyan wins not because people trust him, but because people don't
trust the others," Alexander Iskandarian, the director of Yerevan's
Caucasus Institute think-tank, commented to the Kavkazsky Uzel news
site .
But that does not mean that Hovannisian can't kick up a storm. Local
media reports that he might launch a round-the-clock series of
street protests and legally challenge the official results, precinct
by precinct.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66573