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THE REAL PICTURE OF THE ELECTION IN NUMBERS
March 8 2013
An extract from the petition filed in the Constitutional Court by Raffi
Hovhannisyan "The lack of a system that would ensure restrictions
on voting by another person (other persons) instead of persons who
are absent from the Republic and have a right to participate in the
election raises theoretical and practical doubts about the number of
persons who participated in the vote.
International observers confirm that, and the official results of
the election also testify to that. According to those results, at the
polling places and electoral districts, where the turnout was higher,
one can say anomalously high, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan won
by an anomalous margin, which testifies to the fact that at all those
polling places - and those are hundreds - there was absentee ballot
vote fraud, ballot-box stuffing, carousel voting, the administrative
resource was used, and many other means of breaching persons' right
to vote were used, as a result of which there are polling places,
where the number of voters who 'turned out' to vote accounts for
100% of those included in the voter registration lists, there are
much more polling places, where that number accounts for 90%-99%,
there are even more polling places, where that number accounts for
80%-90%; polling places, where the number of those who 'turned out'
to vote accounts for 60%-70% and 70%-80%, are hundreds. The OSCE ODIHR
talked about the above-mentioned issue in its 3/2/2013 Post-Election
Interim Report, asserting in particular: On 25 February, the CEC
announced the final election results with Mr. Sargsyan as the elected
president. An OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission analysis of final
results as published by the CEC shows a close correlation between
the voter turnout and the number of votes for the incumbent, with
Precinct Election Commissions with above average turnout also having
a higher share of votes for Mr. Sargsyan. Out of the 1 988 polling
stations, 1 746 have 300 or more registered voters (all but one of
these polling stations are regular, i.e. not established in long-term
pre-trial detention centers or medical facilities). In 144 of those,
voter turnout exceeded 80 percent, which seems implausibly high; the
incumbent received above 80 percent of the votes cast in 115 of these
stations. In 198 out of the 303 stations where turnout was between
70 and 80 percent, the incumbent received more than 70 percent of
the votes. Among 249 stations where turnout was below 50 percent, Mr.
Sargsyan received more than 50 percent in 40, and Mr. Hovannisyan
received more than 50 percent in 155. The tendency of higher results
for the incumbent observed at the majority of stations with high
turnout raises concerns regarding the confidence over the integrity of
the electoral process.' Both what we mentioned above and the quoted
part of the OSCE ODIHR report refer to those included in the voter
registration lists, and if we make a calculation based on the actual
number of voters, at least, 11% should be added to those percentages,
and that is according to the official data. So according to the
Central Election Commission (CEC), the overall number of voters in
the Republic of Armenia is 2 528 050, and the number of participants
in the election is 1 521 489 [see www.elections.am]. According to the
census data, as of October 12, 2011, 2 871 509 people lived in Armenia
[www.armstat.am/eng]. Naturally, not all of them were citizens of the
Republic of Armenia, but let's assume that it is so. If we take into
account the fact that according to the Migration Service, the number of
emigrants from Armenia was 44 809 people in 2012, and in January 2013,
that number was 7 002 [see www.smsmta.am/?id=937], then it turns out
that 2 819 698 people live in the Republic. If we subtract 682 000
children under 18 years of age who don't have a right to vote from 2
819 698 [see www.armstat.am], we will have 2 137 689 as the number
of voters living in Armenia. Thus, according to the official data,
the number of voters is 2 528 050, whereas there are 2 137 689 voters
in Armenia, of which, according to the CEC data, 1 521 489 voters,
which accounts for 60.18 percent of voters included in the register of
voters, but actually accounts for 71.17 percent of voters living in the
Republic, participated in the election. By the way, all this is based
exceptionally on the official data. It means that if we want to find
out what percentage of voters living in the Republic participated in
the election, we have to add 11 percent to the percentage of the voter
turnout at every polling place or electoral district. So the average
percentage of the participants in the election in the Republic is
71.17 percent, which is an impossibly and unrealistically high number,
and it is clear that this number is solely a result of ballot-box
stuffing. Moreover, it turns out that at 235 polling places, 90%-100%
or a higher percent, at 260 polling places, 80%-89%, at 88 polling
places, 72%-79% of voters participated in the election.
At those 586 polling places, 315 618 voters out of 368 776 voters who
'turned out' to vote or more than 85.59 percent cast their votes for
Serzh Sargsyan. It is obvious that such numbers can be achieved solely
by ballot-box stuffing, voter intimidation, and double-voting. So
this is what our elections are like. Another calculation makes it
clear that at the polling places, where the number of participants
is close to the average, Raffi Hovhannisyan has an advantage. Under
the conditions of this and other kinds of obvious fraud, the election
commissions showed negligence. They didn't initiate any recalculation
at any polling place, rejected without consideration 128 complaints
made by Raffi Hovhannisyan to declare those anomalous results void
due to ballot-box stuffing and other kinds of fraud, didn't record any
encroachment on the electoral process themselves, didn't investigate
even those violations that had been recorded by the mass media,
other candidates' poll-watchers, NGOs, and observers. Naturally,
all this doesn't mean anything to the CEC and naturally, the CEC and
Electoral District Commissions (EDC) didn't initiate any recalculation
at any polling place. Why naturally? Because Serzh Sargsyan admits
in his letter addressed to Serj Tankian that he had organized the
election; thus, what can we expect from the CEC and EDCs?" P.S. I
wonder is there anyone in the Republic who really believes that the
official results made public by the CEC reflect the real picture of
the people's vote. To be continued... Karen MEZHLUMYAN Attorney at Law
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/08/152857/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
From: Baghdasarian
March 8 2013
An extract from the petition filed in the Constitutional Court by Raffi
Hovhannisyan "The lack of a system that would ensure restrictions
on voting by another person (other persons) instead of persons who
are absent from the Republic and have a right to participate in the
election raises theoretical and practical doubts about the number of
persons who participated in the vote.
International observers confirm that, and the official results of
the election also testify to that. According to those results, at the
polling places and electoral districts, where the turnout was higher,
one can say anomalously high, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan won
by an anomalous margin, which testifies to the fact that at all those
polling places - and those are hundreds - there was absentee ballot
vote fraud, ballot-box stuffing, carousel voting, the administrative
resource was used, and many other means of breaching persons' right
to vote were used, as a result of which there are polling places,
where the number of voters who 'turned out' to vote accounts for
100% of those included in the voter registration lists, there are
much more polling places, where that number accounts for 90%-99%,
there are even more polling places, where that number accounts for
80%-90%; polling places, where the number of those who 'turned out'
to vote accounts for 60%-70% and 70%-80%, are hundreds. The OSCE ODIHR
talked about the above-mentioned issue in its 3/2/2013 Post-Election
Interim Report, asserting in particular: On 25 February, the CEC
announced the final election results with Mr. Sargsyan as the elected
president. An OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission analysis of final
results as published by the CEC shows a close correlation between
the voter turnout and the number of votes for the incumbent, with
Precinct Election Commissions with above average turnout also having
a higher share of votes for Mr. Sargsyan. Out of the 1 988 polling
stations, 1 746 have 300 or more registered voters (all but one of
these polling stations are regular, i.e. not established in long-term
pre-trial detention centers or medical facilities). In 144 of those,
voter turnout exceeded 80 percent, which seems implausibly high; the
incumbent received above 80 percent of the votes cast in 115 of these
stations. In 198 out of the 303 stations where turnout was between
70 and 80 percent, the incumbent received more than 70 percent of
the votes. Among 249 stations where turnout was below 50 percent, Mr.
Sargsyan received more than 50 percent in 40, and Mr. Hovannisyan
received more than 50 percent in 155. The tendency of higher results
for the incumbent observed at the majority of stations with high
turnout raises concerns regarding the confidence over the integrity of
the electoral process.' Both what we mentioned above and the quoted
part of the OSCE ODIHR report refer to those included in the voter
registration lists, and if we make a calculation based on the actual
number of voters, at least, 11% should be added to those percentages,
and that is according to the official data. So according to the
Central Election Commission (CEC), the overall number of voters in
the Republic of Armenia is 2 528 050, and the number of participants
in the election is 1 521 489 [see www.elections.am]. According to the
census data, as of October 12, 2011, 2 871 509 people lived in Armenia
[www.armstat.am/eng]. Naturally, not all of them were citizens of the
Republic of Armenia, but let's assume that it is so. If we take into
account the fact that according to the Migration Service, the number of
emigrants from Armenia was 44 809 people in 2012, and in January 2013,
that number was 7 002 [see www.smsmta.am/?id=937], then it turns out
that 2 819 698 people live in the Republic. If we subtract 682 000
children under 18 years of age who don't have a right to vote from 2
819 698 [see www.armstat.am], we will have 2 137 689 as the number
of voters living in Armenia. Thus, according to the official data,
the number of voters is 2 528 050, whereas there are 2 137 689 voters
in Armenia, of which, according to the CEC data, 1 521 489 voters,
which accounts for 60.18 percent of voters included in the register of
voters, but actually accounts for 71.17 percent of voters living in the
Republic, participated in the election. By the way, all this is based
exceptionally on the official data. It means that if we want to find
out what percentage of voters living in the Republic participated in
the election, we have to add 11 percent to the percentage of the voter
turnout at every polling place or electoral district. So the average
percentage of the participants in the election in the Republic is
71.17 percent, which is an impossibly and unrealistically high number,
and it is clear that this number is solely a result of ballot-box
stuffing. Moreover, it turns out that at 235 polling places, 90%-100%
or a higher percent, at 260 polling places, 80%-89%, at 88 polling
places, 72%-79% of voters participated in the election.
At those 586 polling places, 315 618 voters out of 368 776 voters who
'turned out' to vote or more than 85.59 percent cast their votes for
Serzh Sargsyan. It is obvious that such numbers can be achieved solely
by ballot-box stuffing, voter intimidation, and double-voting. So
this is what our elections are like. Another calculation makes it
clear that at the polling places, where the number of participants
is close to the average, Raffi Hovhannisyan has an advantage. Under
the conditions of this and other kinds of obvious fraud, the election
commissions showed negligence. They didn't initiate any recalculation
at any polling place, rejected without consideration 128 complaints
made by Raffi Hovhannisyan to declare those anomalous results void
due to ballot-box stuffing and other kinds of fraud, didn't record any
encroachment on the electoral process themselves, didn't investigate
even those violations that had been recorded by the mass media,
other candidates' poll-watchers, NGOs, and observers. Naturally,
all this doesn't mean anything to the CEC and naturally, the CEC and
Electoral District Commissions (EDC) didn't initiate any recalculation
at any polling place. Why naturally? Because Serzh Sargsyan admits
in his letter addressed to Serj Tankian that he had organized the
election; thus, what can we expect from the CEC and EDCs?" P.S. I
wonder is there anyone in the Republic who really believes that the
official results made public by the CEC reflect the real picture of
the people's vote. To be continued... Karen MEZHLUMYAN Attorney at Law
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/08/152857/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
From: Baghdasarian