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ARMENIAN ELECTION CONTROVERSY: A LOCAL VIEW
By Frank Lavoie
Hawaii Reporter
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx? 8646075c-fc88-4294-abab-96e863f52253
March 6 2008
HI
For those who gripe about elections in the United States, all one has
to do is look around the world and see how truly lucky we are. One
recent example is the presidential election in Armenia held February
19. Armenia is a newly independent democracy located in a precarious
situation surrounded by enemies in the Southern Caucasus.
The sitting president Robert Kocharian anointed his Prime Minister
Serzh Sarkissian to succeed him. The election was to be purely a
show. The administration was seen as highly corrupt and it was thought
that the common falsification of election results would continue. The
opposition candidate was actually Armenia's first president after
independence from 1991 to 1998, Levon Ter-Petrossian.
When the first round election ended with an outright victory for
Sarkissian with 53% of the vote, the opposition immediately claimed
falsification and started protests. After ten days of peaceful
protests the police moved in, leading to pitched battles in the
streets, machine gun fire ringing out, numerous deaths and injuries
and the army, complete with tanks and armored personnel carriers,
occupying the capital Yerevan. What made the situation ironic was
that Ter-Petrossian's re-election in 1996 was marred by vote fraud,
protests and clashes leading to martial law, though not on a scale
like what happened March 1.
It is impossible to find out what has actually transpired in Armenia
since the crackdown began because Kocharian has created a complete
news black out by suspending all freedom of the press and blocking
outside news media.
However, the issue that started the conflict has been overlooked: the
fraudulent election. I believe that the election was indeed faked. I
base this on my first hand account of being an election observer for
Kocharian's first election back in 1998, when he was Prime Minister and
the government candidate. I am sure things have not changed much since
then, except that each year the election fraud is covered up better.
I became an observer through the United States embassy in Yerevan and
came under the umbrella of the OSCE observer mission. During the first
round of elections I monitored election precincts in the Ararat region
(at the time one of the most corrupt regions) and in the second round
I was in Yerevan at a regional vote collection center.
Being out in the village precincts during the first round was
quite amazing. We were able to spend only about half an hour at each
location. Of all the voting places we visited only one seemed to have
no problems and it was not even on our list of precincts to visit
due to its small size. The rest all had problems of various degrees.
One common theme to our precinct visits was that the issues were always
"resolved" instantly. We were like gods that got things fixed, even
though we were only observers that could ask questions, lots of them
if necessary. The problem, of course, was that as soon as we left
things went right back to normal.
There was one polling place with campaign posters on the front door.
When the precinct president was confronted he assured me that it was
untrue, despite the fact I saw it with my own eyes. He then walked
me back outside to prove it: the posters were gone!
Several locations had open voting, where voters were showing their
marked ballots in public. Several others had people registering to vote
outside their registered locations. Numerous instances of passport
photos not being checked were witnessed. Particularly troubling were
police officers inside the polling stations, a situation specifically
prohibited due to earlier instances of intimidation.
I would always pay a visit to the police at every location, ask
how they were doing and if necessary "escort" them to where they
belonged. More often than not they were back where they didn't belong
by the time we drove off.
At one location voters not on the list but obviously living in the
precinct were denied their right to be given a provisional ballot.
Only by our timely arrival and insistence on watching the problem be
resolved did they get to vote.
Another location had a broken ballot box seal: a voter had fallen on
it by accident, nothing funny was going on, of course.
At 8pm the precincts were locked and the vote counting took place. We
were in a small village, it was dark, lots of men in dark clothes were
standing about and strange music was playing over the loudspeakers. A
truly scary feeling, though we knew we were safe.
Nonetheless, we had our driver park the car near the door. Without
fail, a common theme in Armenian vote counting occurred: the lights
went out! I immediately jumped on top of the ballot box, calling out to
my partner to make sure we stayed in communication. The lights came on
and we continued the count. Upon finishing the count the ballots were
packed into a car for the ride to the district collection point. We
followed in our car and it was quite obvious they tried to lose us
during the trip.
The highlight of the election for me was the second round two weeks
later at the regional vote collection center in the Nor Nork region
of Yerevan. This is where the actual results protocols are turned in
after the counting at the precincts. It was well past midnight before
the first results started to arrive. The results protocols were turned
in and the ballots stacked to the side. The action started when the
opposition observer stated that one of the protocols did not match
the results that were announced at the actual precinct. The committee
president simply stated that he would investigate and then ordered
a break.
An hour later in the hallway I overheard a newcomer announce, "I
brought the correct protocols." The only reason I was allowed to hear
this is that everyone assumes that a foreigner cannot speak Armenian.
In my case, they were mistaken!
As the meeting resumed the committee President announced that the
"correct" results had arrived and simply placed the first protocol
in his desk. Case closed! Not quite. I asked to see the first, fake,
protocol. The president tore it up into the trash and said the matter
was over. When I again insisted on seeing it, he blew up in anger
and illegally shut down the vote count.
Everyone left the room except for him, his vice-president, me and my
fellow observer. After a half hour standoff the vice-president left
and brought an elderly cleaning woman who proceeded to dump the trash
can and leave. What an opportunity.
I followed the woman out to the hall, took possession of the trash,
sorted out the coffee grinds and was able to match together a faked
protocol.
That is how I found the greatest physical example of voting fraud in
the 1998 Armenian Presidential Election. How much was not discovered
is the real enigma. And for 2008 the question remains: how much have
the Armenian authorities changed in their holding of "free and fair"
elections?
Frank Lavoie is the co-owner of Kafe Europa in Honolulu, which serves
traditional Armenian and Russian food and a staffer with Sen. Sam
Slom's office.
By Frank Lavoie
Hawaii Reporter
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx? 8646075c-fc88-4294-abab-96e863f52253
March 6 2008
HI
For those who gripe about elections in the United States, all one has
to do is look around the world and see how truly lucky we are. One
recent example is the presidential election in Armenia held February
19. Armenia is a newly independent democracy located in a precarious
situation surrounded by enemies in the Southern Caucasus.
The sitting president Robert Kocharian anointed his Prime Minister
Serzh Sarkissian to succeed him. The election was to be purely a
show. The administration was seen as highly corrupt and it was thought
that the common falsification of election results would continue. The
opposition candidate was actually Armenia's first president after
independence from 1991 to 1998, Levon Ter-Petrossian.
When the first round election ended with an outright victory for
Sarkissian with 53% of the vote, the opposition immediately claimed
falsification and started protests. After ten days of peaceful
protests the police moved in, leading to pitched battles in the
streets, machine gun fire ringing out, numerous deaths and injuries
and the army, complete with tanks and armored personnel carriers,
occupying the capital Yerevan. What made the situation ironic was
that Ter-Petrossian's re-election in 1996 was marred by vote fraud,
protests and clashes leading to martial law, though not on a scale
like what happened March 1.
It is impossible to find out what has actually transpired in Armenia
since the crackdown began because Kocharian has created a complete
news black out by suspending all freedom of the press and blocking
outside news media.
However, the issue that started the conflict has been overlooked: the
fraudulent election. I believe that the election was indeed faked. I
base this on my first hand account of being an election observer for
Kocharian's first election back in 1998, when he was Prime Minister and
the government candidate. I am sure things have not changed much since
then, except that each year the election fraud is covered up better.
I became an observer through the United States embassy in Yerevan and
came under the umbrella of the OSCE observer mission. During the first
round of elections I monitored election precincts in the Ararat region
(at the time one of the most corrupt regions) and in the second round
I was in Yerevan at a regional vote collection center.
Being out in the village precincts during the first round was
quite amazing. We were able to spend only about half an hour at each
location. Of all the voting places we visited only one seemed to have
no problems and it was not even on our list of precincts to visit
due to its small size. The rest all had problems of various degrees.
One common theme to our precinct visits was that the issues were always
"resolved" instantly. We were like gods that got things fixed, even
though we were only observers that could ask questions, lots of them
if necessary. The problem, of course, was that as soon as we left
things went right back to normal.
There was one polling place with campaign posters on the front door.
When the precinct president was confronted he assured me that it was
untrue, despite the fact I saw it with my own eyes. He then walked
me back outside to prove it: the posters were gone!
Several locations had open voting, where voters were showing their
marked ballots in public. Several others had people registering to vote
outside their registered locations. Numerous instances of passport
photos not being checked were witnessed. Particularly troubling were
police officers inside the polling stations, a situation specifically
prohibited due to earlier instances of intimidation.
I would always pay a visit to the police at every location, ask
how they were doing and if necessary "escort" them to where they
belonged. More often than not they were back where they didn't belong
by the time we drove off.
At one location voters not on the list but obviously living in the
precinct were denied their right to be given a provisional ballot.
Only by our timely arrival and insistence on watching the problem be
resolved did they get to vote.
Another location had a broken ballot box seal: a voter had fallen on
it by accident, nothing funny was going on, of course.
At 8pm the precincts were locked and the vote counting took place. We
were in a small village, it was dark, lots of men in dark clothes were
standing about and strange music was playing over the loudspeakers. A
truly scary feeling, though we knew we were safe.
Nonetheless, we had our driver park the car near the door. Without
fail, a common theme in Armenian vote counting occurred: the lights
went out! I immediately jumped on top of the ballot box, calling out to
my partner to make sure we stayed in communication. The lights came on
and we continued the count. Upon finishing the count the ballots were
packed into a car for the ride to the district collection point. We
followed in our car and it was quite obvious they tried to lose us
during the trip.
The highlight of the election for me was the second round two weeks
later at the regional vote collection center in the Nor Nork region
of Yerevan. This is where the actual results protocols are turned in
after the counting at the precincts. It was well past midnight before
the first results started to arrive. The results protocols were turned
in and the ballots stacked to the side. The action started when the
opposition observer stated that one of the protocols did not match
the results that were announced at the actual precinct. The committee
president simply stated that he would investigate and then ordered
a break.
An hour later in the hallway I overheard a newcomer announce, "I
brought the correct protocols." The only reason I was allowed to hear
this is that everyone assumes that a foreigner cannot speak Armenian.
In my case, they were mistaken!
As the meeting resumed the committee President announced that the
"correct" results had arrived and simply placed the first protocol
in his desk. Case closed! Not quite. I asked to see the first, fake,
protocol. The president tore it up into the trash and said the matter
was over. When I again insisted on seeing it, he blew up in anger
and illegally shut down the vote count.
Everyone left the room except for him, his vice-president, me and my
fellow observer. After a half hour standoff the vice-president left
and brought an elderly cleaning woman who proceeded to dump the trash
can and leave. What an opportunity.
I followed the woman out to the hall, took possession of the trash,
sorted out the coffee grinds and was able to match together a faked
protocol.
That is how I found the greatest physical example of voting fraud in
the 1998 Armenian Presidential Election. How much was not discovered
is the real enigma. And for 2008 the question remains: how much have
the Armenian authorities changed in their holding of "free and fair"
elections?
Frank Lavoie is the co-owner of Kafe Europa in Honolulu, which serves
traditional Armenian and Russian food and a staffer with Sen. Sam
Slom's office.