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Sweeteners For Votes In Armenia

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  • Sweeteners For Votes In Armenia

    SWEETENERS FOR VOTES IN ARMENIA
    By Gayane Lazarian

    Institute for War & Peace Reporting
    CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 367
    April 23, 2012
    UK

    Political parties accused of handing out cash and gifts ahead of
    election.

    Although campaigning for Armenia's parliamentary election officially
    began on April 8, political parties have been handing out gifts to
    potential voters for months.

    Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said on March 23 that the authorities
    were intent on ensuring a fair vote on May 6.

    "As opposition representatives acknowledge, a civil society has
    emerged which will demand fairness during the election. That is of
    course the most important guarantee that the electoral process will
    be free and fair," he said.

    All parties, both pro-government and opposition, are using billboard
    and television advertising to promise to build a free and fair society
    if they win.

    Experts say informal campaigning has been less than fair, with
    well-heeled parties handing out coffee, vodka, perfume, satellite
    dishes and more to entice people into voting for them.

    The impact these gifts could have disputed, with some saying 30 per
    cent of the electorate could be swayed by them and others saying very
    few will be affected.

    Lusine Lazarian, from Echmiadzin, some 15 kilometres from the capital
    Yerevan, said campaigners from the Rule of Law party were going door
    to door in her neighbourhood asking people to become members. If they
    signed up, they were promised mobile phones, she said.

    Rule of Law is headed by Artur Baghdasaryan, secretary of the
    president's Security Council, and together with the Republican Party
    and Prosperous Armenia forms the ruling coalition.

    Heghine Bisharyan, a Rule of Law member of parliament, denied the
    party was handing out mobile phones, but said there was nothing wrong
    with giving voters food, alcohol and other gifts.

    In Gyumri, a city 100 kilometres northwest of Yerevan, many residents
    say they were approached in February and March by purported members
    of the Prosperous Armenia party, who promised TV satellite dishes or -
    in nearby villages - four sacks of coal if they joined the party.

    "A young man came and said that if we joined Prosperous Armenia,
    we'd get satellite dishes and that we'd always be able to go to them
    for help. I was amazed. How much money have these people got? A dish
    costs 150 dollars," Azniv, a pensioner from Gyumri who did not want
    to give her last name, said.

    Lusine Grigoryan, another Gyumri resident, said her family accepted
    a satellite dish but still had no intention of voting for the party.

    Prosperous Armenia spokesman Baghdasar Mheryan denied the party had
    given out gifts in Gyumri.

    Harutyun Hambardzumyan, of the non-governmental organisation The
    Choice is Yours, which has monitored gift-giving by political parties,
    said the practice could alter the eventual outcome by as much as 30
    per cent.

    He said such actions were clearly banned under Armenia's election law.

    "Article 18, point seven of the electoral code forbids candidates
    and parties - personally or by other means - to "give or promise
    citizens money, products, favours or other items free of charge or at
    a discount, or to offer them services during election campaigning,"
    he said. "Loopholes in the electoral code mean parties are able to
    do this under the cover of charitable activity."

    Styopa Safaryan, a parliamentarian from the opposition Heritage
    party, agreed that the legislation covering electoral spending needed
    to change.

    "The law must ban the dispensing of charity for several months before
    the start of an official election campaign," he said. "I am not
    against charitable giving, but it shouldn't happen close to elections.

    It also comes down to the ethical standards of parties themselves -
    they can refrain from charitable activity for this period."

    There are also allegations that voters are being offered cash in
    hand as well as gifts, and the going rate is put at between 5,000
    and 10,000 drams, 13 to 26 US dollars, per vote. Accepting a bribe
    for one's vote is a serious offence which carries a fine of at least
    41,000 dollars or up to three years in prison.

    Anahit Bakhshyan of the Heritage party, who is standing for election
    in Yerevan's Shengavit constituency, has accused her rivals of offering
    bribes of between 8,000 and 13,000 drams to voters.

    She has obtained a form which she says the governing Republican Party
    handed out to schoolteachers so that they could gather information
    about the parents of pupils at their schools.

    Police in Shengavit say they are investigating Bakhshyan's complaints.

    Parties in the ruling coalition have denied the existence of these
    forms.

    "It's a complete lie. I don't want to comment further. I don't know
    what she [Bakhshyan] has in her possession, but if she thinks she's
    right, she should go to court," Prosperous Armenia secretary Aram
    Safaryan said.

    Republican Party parliamentarian Artak Zakaryan said none of its
    campaigners had made payments to prospective voters.

    As for the allegations against Prosperous Armenia, member of parliament
    Naira Zohrabyan denied that her party was doing anything unlawful,
    insisting that all charitable gifts were dispensed personally by its
    leader Gagik Tsarukyan, in his capacity as a businessmen. She added
    that Tsarukyan would continue doing so "whether you like it or not".

    Armen Badalyan, a regular commentator on electoral law, said the
    distinction meant the party was technically within the law.

    "Charitable activity is being conducted by a charity fund and not the
    party, so there's no breach of the law here. But of course this is
    how they incentivise people. It's a form of campaigning that sways
    undecided or disillusioned voters," he said.

    At the same time, Badalyan doubted that such actions would have a
    substantial effect on the outcome of the election, as he estimated
    that only five per cent of people would change their vote in return
    for inducements.

    "There's only one method of campaigning, and that is to conduct a good
    election campaign which people will view as is more important than
    some 13 dollars, which isn't going to change anyone's life," he said.

    More broadly, commentators say there is little that can be done to
    stem corruption around elections until people become more civic-minded
    and better off.

    Yervand Bozoyan, head of the Dialogue think tank, said, "In advanced
    countries, election bribes don't have any effect since people are
    well-provided for and aren't interested in presents or money."

    Opposition activists have also raised concerns about how the electoral
    rolls have been compiled for the forthcoming ballot. The current list
    shows a seven per cent increase on the number of voters on the books
    in the presidential election four years ago.

    Safaryan of the Heritage Party has requested the prosecution to
    look into whether the electoral roll meets legal standards. Levon
    Ter-Petrosyan, who heads another opposition party, the Armenian
    National Congress, told Radmila ekerinska, the head of the OSCE's
    election monitoring mission, that hundreds of thousands of the people
    listed were not resident in Armenia.

    Hovhannes Kocharyan, who heads the police's passport and visa
    department, put the increase down to a rise in the adult population
    coupled with more accurate statistics.

    Meeting students in the city of Tsakhkadzor on April 9, President
    Serzh Sargsyan said people should not be removed from the electoral
    rolls just because they had left the country, and inclusion on the
    list did not mean they would necessarily vote.

    "I think that everyone who's talking about this should wait and see
    how things look after the elections," he said. "We've published the
    electoral roll on the internet, and if there are any problems, then
    anyone who harbours any doubts should... help us make corrections
    to it."

    Safaryan said the authorities should carry out such checks themselves
    rather than suggest that the opposition spend time doing so.

    "The state's responsibility for running free and fair elections has
    sadly fallen to us," he added.

    Gayane Lazarian is a journalist with the online publication
    ArmeniaNow.com

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