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ARMENIAN COURT STARTS HEARING OPPOSITION CHALLENGE AGAINST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Xinhua General News Service, China
March 11, 2013 Monday 1:17 AM EST
The Constitutional Court of Armenia on Monday started hearing the case
of opposition leader and Heritage Party chief Raffi Hovhannisyan who
claimed widespread fraud in the presidential election last month.
According to the final result released by the Central Electoral
Commission of Armenia, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan was
re-elected with 58.64 percent of the vote in the election on Feb. 18,
whereas opposition candidate Hovhannisyan came in second with 36.75
percent.
Hovhannisyan has asked the court to annul the result.
Sargsyan will be represented in the court by the Minister of Justice
Hrayr Tovmasyan and head of the parliamentary Standing Committee on
State and Legal Affairs Davit Harutyunyan.
After holding a series of peaceful rallies in the capital Yerevan
and in the regions, Hovhannisyan announced in front of hundreds of
supporters on Sunday in Yerevan's Freedom Square that he was starting
a hunger strike protesting against the officially announced election
results and asking for the resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan.
"If Serzh Sargsyan puts his hand on the Bible and takes the oath of
the President on April 9, then that will happen over my dead body,"
declared Hovhannisyan.
Xinhua General News Service, China
March 11, 2013 Monday 1:17 AM EST
The Constitutional Court of Armenia on Monday started hearing the case
of opposition leader and Heritage Party chief Raffi Hovhannisyan who
claimed widespread fraud in the presidential election last month.
According to the final result released by the Central Electoral
Commission of Armenia, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan was
re-elected with 58.64 percent of the vote in the election on Feb. 18,
whereas opposition candidate Hovhannisyan came in second with 36.75
percent.
Hovhannisyan has asked the court to annul the result.
Sargsyan will be represented in the court by the Minister of Justice
Hrayr Tovmasyan and head of the parliamentary Standing Committee on
State and Legal Affairs Davit Harutyunyan.
After holding a series of peaceful rallies in the capital Yerevan
and in the regions, Hovhannisyan announced in front of hundreds of
supporters on Sunday in Yerevan's Freedom Square that he was starting
a hunger strike protesting against the officially announced election
results and asking for the resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan.
"If Serzh Sargsyan puts his hand on the Bible and takes the oath of
the President on April 9, then that will happen over my dead body,"
declared Hovhannisyan.