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Local Monitors Criticize Yerevan Vote

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  • Local Monitors Criticize Yerevan Vote

    LOCAL MONITORS CRITICIZE YEREVAN VOTE

    AZG Armenian Daily
    03/06/2009

    Elections of Council of Yerevan Elders

    Armenia's largest election-monitoring organization gave on Tuesday a
    largely negative evaluation of Sunday's mayoral elections in Yerevan,
    reporting a wide range of irregularities. The independent group It's
    Your Choice, which deployed observers in all of the city's 439 polling
    stations, listed in its preliminary report concrete instances of ballot
    stuffing, multiple and illegal voting, voter intimidation, presence
    of unauthorized personnel, and other procedural violations. It also
    deplored pre-election violence, reports of widespread vote buying,
    pro-government parties' reliance on their "administrative resources"
    and their tight control of election commissions The report concluded
    that the May 31 elections "further deepened voters' disappointment
    with political parties and electoral processes." It said although they
    marked a "small improvement" over last year's local polls in Yerevan
    districts, "there are no sufficient grounds to believe that these
    elections passed the threshold of democratic, fair and transparent
    elections." Presenting the report, the head of It's Your Choice,
    Harutiun Hambardzumian, said voting was particularly fraudulent in
    the city's Malatia-Sebastia district, scene of the largest number
    of irregularities reported by the Armenian opposition, media and
    observers. He said It's Your Choice monitors witnessed ballot box
    stuffing in five local precincts. "Ballot stuffing occurred when
    large groups of voters made their way into those polling stations
    and caused uncontrollable situations," Hambardzumian told a news
    conference. "Also, in almost all Malatia-Sebastia precincts,
    there was an atmosphere of fear. We were unable and even not
    allowed to monitor the voting there in great detail." That there
    were serious problems in Malatia-Sebastia is acknowledged by the
    Armenian authorities. The Office of the Prosecutor-General on Monday
    urged the Central Election Commission (CEC) to order vote recounts
    in eight local precincts. The Special Investigative Service (SIS),
    a law-enforcement agency subordinated to the prosecutors, said on
    Tuesday that it has arrested a pro-government member of one of those
    commissions and another Malatia-Sebastia resident on suspicion of
    "falsifying vote results." Sona Truzian, the spokeswoman for the
    prosecutors, specified that the SIS has evidence of the two men adding
    "fake ballots" to the precinct vote tally. She said that as part of
    the criminal investigation all ballots cast there will be recounted
    at the Office of the Prosecutor-General on Tuesday. Journalists will
    be able to attend the recount, she said. The precinct in question was
    also the scene of a reported assault on two journalists and an election
    observer who witnessed the ballot stuffing. The SIS has pledged to
    investigate the attack. According to Truzian, the SIS has also opened
    criminal cases in connection with fraud reported by Armenian media
    in six other Malatia-Sebastia polling stations. "It is possible that
    criminal cases will also be opened in connection with violations in
    other precincts," she told RFE/RL, according to azatutyun.am.
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