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ARMENIA POLLS FREE OF VIOLATIONS: ELECTION COMMISSION
Global Post
Feb 25 2013
Armenia's election authority said Monday there were no serious
violations in polls last week that re-elected President Serzh
Sarkisian, but the defeated candidate said he was considering legal
action to challenge the result.
"Serzh Azatovich Sarkisian has been elected President of the Republic
of Armenia," announced the head of the Central Elections Commission,
Tigran Mukuchyan.
Sarkisian took 58.64 percent of the votes, against 36.74 percent to
his main challenger, Raffi Hovannisian.
Hovannisian has refused to recognise the result and over the past
few days several thousand opposition activists have rallied to demand
the overturn of the outcome.
"In the course of the electoral campaign and the vote, there were
no violations that could have affected the elections result,"
Mukuchyan said.
Hovannisian's camp has alleged a range of sometimes bizarre electoral
violations, including the use of "disappearing ink" to allow multiple
voting.
The United States has said it was concerned over "serious violations"
in the electoral process in the ex-Soviet state, where 10 people were
killed in clashes in the 2008 vote that brought Sarkisian to power.
Observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly said the February 18
election was an improvement on past polls but lacked real competition
after two leading candidates pulled out late last year.
The Armenian authorities had hoped the orderly conduct of last week's
vote would improve the country's chances of joining Europe after the
violence in the 2008 election.
But the election was undermined by a lack of strong opposition and a
mysterious attempt to assassinate against one candidate, Soviet-era
dissident Paruyr Hayrikyan.
After the publication of the preliminary results, Hovannisian, the
former foreign minister, claimed that he was the true winner and
denounced the vote as "not fair".
On Monday he said he could formally contest the result.
"I do not rule out turning to the Constitutional Court in the near
future," he told reporters. "By law, we have five days to do it."
Hovannisian described the streets protests of the past few days as
"an eruption from below" but said he would not allow them to spill
over into street unrest.
"Even if it costs me my life, I will not allow a single drop of blood
to be shed," he said.
Turnout in the poll was 60.18 percent, authorities said.
mkh-as/am/br
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130225/armenia-polls-free-violations-election-commission-0
From: Baghdasarian
Global Post
Feb 25 2013
Armenia's election authority said Monday there were no serious
violations in polls last week that re-elected President Serzh
Sarkisian, but the defeated candidate said he was considering legal
action to challenge the result.
"Serzh Azatovich Sarkisian has been elected President of the Republic
of Armenia," announced the head of the Central Elections Commission,
Tigran Mukuchyan.
Sarkisian took 58.64 percent of the votes, against 36.74 percent to
his main challenger, Raffi Hovannisian.
Hovannisian has refused to recognise the result and over the past
few days several thousand opposition activists have rallied to demand
the overturn of the outcome.
"In the course of the electoral campaign and the vote, there were
no violations that could have affected the elections result,"
Mukuchyan said.
Hovannisian's camp has alleged a range of sometimes bizarre electoral
violations, including the use of "disappearing ink" to allow multiple
voting.
The United States has said it was concerned over "serious violations"
in the electoral process in the ex-Soviet state, where 10 people were
killed in clashes in the 2008 vote that brought Sarkisian to power.
Observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly said the February 18
election was an improvement on past polls but lacked real competition
after two leading candidates pulled out late last year.
The Armenian authorities had hoped the orderly conduct of last week's
vote would improve the country's chances of joining Europe after the
violence in the 2008 election.
But the election was undermined by a lack of strong opposition and a
mysterious attempt to assassinate against one candidate, Soviet-era
dissident Paruyr Hayrikyan.
After the publication of the preliminary results, Hovannisian, the
former foreign minister, claimed that he was the true winner and
denounced the vote as "not fair".
On Monday he said he could formally contest the result.
"I do not rule out turning to the Constitutional Court in the near
future," he told reporters. "By law, we have five days to do it."
Hovannisian described the streets protests of the past few days as
"an eruption from below" but said he would not allow them to spill
over into street unrest.
"Even if it costs me my life, I will not allow a single drop of blood
to be shed," he said.
Turnout in the poll was 60.18 percent, authorities said.
mkh-as/am/br
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130225/armenia-polls-free-violations-election-commission-0
From: Baghdasarian