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Decision 2013: Ngos Call For Accounting Of Voter Lists

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  • Decision 2013: Ngos Call For Accounting Of Voter Lists

    DECISION 2013: NGOS CALL FOR ACCOUNTING OF VOTER LISTS

    http://armenianow.com/vote_2013/43914/serzh_sargsyan_raffi_hovannisian_armenia_president ial_election_transparency_international
    VOTE 2013 | 26.02.13 | 16:39

    Photo: Media Center

    By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
    ArmeniaNow reporter

    Representatives of Armenia's civil society are demanding from the
    authorities to publicize the voter lists with voter signatures from
    February 18. The publication of the voter lists, they insist, would
    let Armenian voters make sure that "their names and the names of
    those absent from the country have not been misused, and would prove
    the legitimacy of the country's leadership now being formed".

    "Otherwise, citizens of Armenia have all the grounds to believe that
    the 2013 presidential elections have been rigged in order to gain power
    at all costs," says the statement by eight NGOs, the majority of which
    were on observer missions on Election Day. Transparency International
    Anti-Corruption center, Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor office,
    Asparez journalism club, Armenia's Helsinki Committee, Women's Support
    Center, Women's Resource Center, and the Open Society Foundations -
    Armenia has signed the petition.

    The Armenian authorities have traditionally refused the opposition's
    demand to make public the lists of those absent from Armenia and the
    signed voter lists, on the grounds that doing so would inappropriately
    disclose voters' personal information.

    "If the authorities say 'we did not commit fraud', the only way to
    prove it is to open the voter lists and say - please, come and check.

    Otherwise, my distrust will grow deeper. He [President Serzh Sargsyan]
    must present grounded proofs, rather than just murmur - it is up to
    you to believe or not; we need facts to dispel our doubts," Helsinki
    Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor office leader Artur Sakunts told the
    press Tuesday.

    Introducing the NGOs' statement, Sakunts said that according to the
    civil structures' observation the authorities repeatedly violated
    the law during the entire election process, and it affected the
    election outcome.

    As a proof of this claim executive director of Transparency
    International Anti-Corruption center Varuzhan Hoktanyan presented
    their analysis of votes earned by Sargsyan and official runner up
    Raffi Hovannisian at the polling stations with both high and low
    turnout. Based on that analysis, at the polling station where up to 50
    percent of registered voters cast ballots, Hovannisian was the winner.

    At the polling stations, with above 50 percent turnout, voter behavior
    changed radically in favor of Sargsyan. The Central Election Commission
    officially stated Monday that Sargsyan has been re-elected for a
    second term. Hovannisian has refused to recognize the CEC data and
    continues the post-election standoff.

    "It has to be proved what has secured the Serzh Sargsyan votes at
    the polling places with high turnout," said Hoktanyan.

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