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CIS MONITORING MISSION CALLS ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLLS LEGITIMATE
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Feb 19 2013
Executive Secretary of the CIS monitoring mission Sergey Lebedev
said today that the presidential polls in Armenia were free, open,
competitive and met demands of the international norms. No facts
casting doubts in legitimacy of the elections have been registered,
although minor violations happened, the official says, NEWS.am reports.
The CIS monitoring mission consisted of 212 officials from 8 states.
They visited over 1000 polling stations on February 18.
Head of the OSCE PA monitoring mission Tonino Picula said that
the elections lacked competitiveness. There was no separation of
political activists of the incumbent president and officials of state
structures. This means that administrative resources and pressure
on functionaries were used to involve them in voting and agitation,
News Armenia reports.
Agitation was well-organized, but the decision of some parties to
abstain from running for president provoked empathy among voters.
The International Expert Center for Electoral Systems (ICES) calls
the elections legitimate. Alexander Zinker, ICES president and MP of
the 15th calling, called the elections legitimate, democratic and said
that they met the international norms. The problems he pointed out were
power cuts, high density of people at some polling stations, lack of
authorized officials of candidates and reports about disappearances
of marks in passports 2 hours after voting.
35 independent experts of the EU, US and Israel were monitoring the
elections within the framework of the ICES. The mission monitored
134 polling stations and gave a positive rating to work at 65% of them.
Not a single polling station got a negative rating.
Lidia Lawson, President of the Independent US Center for Political
Monitoring, emphasized the high grade of readiness of electoral
commissions. Vote-counting was tranquil and without incidents.
Electoral Commission checked vote results of 1988 polling stations
and says that President Serzh Sargsyan got 58.64% (861,378) votes,
followed by Raffi Ovannisyan, leader of the Heritage Party and
ex-Foreign Minister of Armenia, with 36.74% (539,674) votes.
Former Prime Minister Grant Bagratyan got 2.15% (31,643) of votes,
leader of the Union for National Self-Determination Paruyr Ayrikyan
got 1.23% (18,093), head of Radio Hay Andrias Gukasyan got 0.57%
(8,328), epos researcher Vardan Sedrakyan got 0.42% (6,203) and former
Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Arman Melikyan 0.24% (3,520).
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/politics/37207.html
From: A. Papazian
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Feb 19 2013
Executive Secretary of the CIS monitoring mission Sergey Lebedev
said today that the presidential polls in Armenia were free, open,
competitive and met demands of the international norms. No facts
casting doubts in legitimacy of the elections have been registered,
although minor violations happened, the official says, NEWS.am reports.
The CIS monitoring mission consisted of 212 officials from 8 states.
They visited over 1000 polling stations on February 18.
Head of the OSCE PA monitoring mission Tonino Picula said that
the elections lacked competitiveness. There was no separation of
political activists of the incumbent president and officials of state
structures. This means that administrative resources and pressure
on functionaries were used to involve them in voting and agitation,
News Armenia reports.
Agitation was well-organized, but the decision of some parties to
abstain from running for president provoked empathy among voters.
The International Expert Center for Electoral Systems (ICES) calls
the elections legitimate. Alexander Zinker, ICES president and MP of
the 15th calling, called the elections legitimate, democratic and said
that they met the international norms. The problems he pointed out were
power cuts, high density of people at some polling stations, lack of
authorized officials of candidates and reports about disappearances
of marks in passports 2 hours after voting.
35 independent experts of the EU, US and Israel were monitoring the
elections within the framework of the ICES. The mission monitored
134 polling stations and gave a positive rating to work at 65% of them.
Not a single polling station got a negative rating.
Lidia Lawson, President of the Independent US Center for Political
Monitoring, emphasized the high grade of readiness of electoral
commissions. Vote-counting was tranquil and without incidents.
Electoral Commission checked vote results of 1988 polling stations
and says that President Serzh Sargsyan got 58.64% (861,378) votes,
followed by Raffi Ovannisyan, leader of the Heritage Party and
ex-Foreign Minister of Armenia, with 36.74% (539,674) votes.
Former Prime Minister Grant Bagratyan got 2.15% (31,643) of votes,
leader of the Union for National Self-Determination Paruyr Ayrikyan
got 1.23% (18,093), head of Radio Hay Andrias Gukasyan got 0.57%
(8,328), epos researcher Vardan Sedrakyan got 0.42% (6,203) and former
Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Arman Melikyan 0.24% (3,520).
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/politics/37207.html
From: A. Papazian