Wrongful Imprisonment: Activists call for release of Arzumanyan

Jun 1, 2007
ArmeniaNow.com, Armenia
By Vahan Ishkhanyan - ArmeniaNow reporter

Eight political parties, eight newspapers and 21 human rights activists and intellectuals have released a statement calling for the release of former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Alexander Arzumanyan. Arzumanyan has been kept in the Kentron prison (of the National Security Service) since May 7.

He has been held on charges of money laundering, however his supporters say the charges are politically motivated and the arrest was because of Arzumanyan’s public support of oppositional ideologies.

Last week an appeals court upheld a lower court decision to hold Arzumanyan for two months. The statement by the rights activists and others is in response to the Court of Appeal decision.

Arzumanyan’s lawyers are now preparing documents to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Arzumanyan is the first citizen charged with money laundering in Armenia, since a law specific to the crime was introduced in the Criminal Code of Armenia in 2003. National Security Service officers found $55,000 in Arzumanyan’s apartment during a raid on his home. (See: Oppositionist Organizer Arrested)

The NSS says Arzumanyan conspired with Russian-Armenian millionaire Levon Markos to launder money through Armenia that Markos had obtained by allegedly illegal means.

Sashik Aghazaryan, a citizen of Krasnogorsk, Russia used media to address the NSS stating that the money that was sent to Arzumanyan was honestly earned by him, and demanded Arzumanyan’s release , and full compensation of the sum confiscated from the apartment.

However, the amount of the sum Arzumanyan is alleged in laundering remains unknown. Arzumanyan refuses to give testimony: “We state that we do not give testimony. Let them clarify if the money Arzumanyan received was gained by criminal ways,” Arzumanyan’s lawyer Hovik Arsenyan says: “if the money is legal, then one can send and receive even millions.”

Last week human rights and public activists held a discussion in the ‘168 Zham’ newspaper office in support of Arzumanyan.

“This case does not have any persepctives for court proceedings,” lawyer Vahe Grigoryan says. “Justice simply becomes a tool of solving political problems.”

Grigoryan speculated that the NSS (formerly the KGB) is returning to practices it carried out in soviet times, adding that portraits of soviet revolutionary and party leader and one-time Minister of Interior Felix Dzerzhinski adorn NSS office walls, symbolizing an atmosphere of oppression that Grigoryan says is encouraged by NSS. “Dzerzhinksi would never let Alik Arzumanyan free,” the lawyer says.

Karapet Rubinyan, former Vice Speaker of the National Assembly says today there are thousands of people who receive money from abroad, and can, therefore, be charged by the article in the Criminal Code for money laundering. The provision, he says, becomes a new type of weapon of subjection and settling of political accounts.

Arzumanyan founded an organization called Civil Disobedience Movement last autumn and organized a number of anti-governmental rallies.

The statement claims Alexander Arzumanyan was arrested for his political activities and is a political prisoner. His supporters have created a website (http://arzumanyan.atwebpages.com ) on Arzumanyan’s behalf.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

OSCE Tones Down Armenian Election Praise

Friday 25, May 2007
Armenia Liberty
By Emil Danielyan

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe effectively completed its two-month vote monitoring in Armenia on Friday after releasing a fresh report that raised more questions about the freedom and fairness of the May 12 parliamentary elections.

The content of the post-election interim report issued by the OSCE’s observer mission in Yerevan contrasted with its earlier, overwhelmingly positive assessment of the Armenian authorities’ handling of the vote. It emphasized and elaborated on Western election observers’ preliminary conclusion that counting of ballots in a large number of polling stations and their subsequent tabulation by district election commissions (TECs) was deeply flawed.

“During these last stages of the election process, the [OSCE mission] observed certain inconsistencies with established regulations and departures from best electoral practice which do not contribute to strengthening public confidence in the election process,” the report said. It said OSCE monitors found “discrepancies, some of them significant” between vote results reported by precinct commissions and the higher-level TECs.

The mission head, Boris Frlec, handed a copy of the report to Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian at a meeting on Thursday. Few of the meeting’s details were reported by the Foreign Ministry’s press service. It quoted Frlec as saying that the vote was “on the whole” an improvement over the previous Armenian elections.

Oskanian was reported to have thanked the OSCE observers for their “objective” assessment of the election conduct. He also told Frlec that next year’s presidential election will be “another important step in strengthening democracy in Armenia.”

In a serious boost to the Armenian government’s international reputation, the preliminary report jointly released by nearly 400 observers representing the OSCE, the European Union and the Council of Europe on May 13 concluded that the elections largely met democratic standards. The OSCE mission’s follow-up report painted a less rosy picture.

“In 35 percent of the [108] polling stations where counting was observed, the PEC (precinct election commission) members had difficulties completing the results protocols,” it said, adding that many of those protocols were “filled out incompletely or incorrectly.”

The mission, deployed by the OSCE’s Warsaw-based Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said this contributed to “disorganization” at higher-level TECs that tabulated the results in their respective electoral districts. It said Western observers found the tabulation process to be “bad or very bad” in more than a third of Armenia’s 41 TECs. Fourteen of those commissions were observed making changes in the PEC vote protocols in violation of the Armenian Election Code, the mission added.

The code stipulates that the protocols must be delivered to the TECs in special bags sealed by precinct-level election officials. But according to the OSCE’s post-election report, in at least seven district commissions ballot bags were “unsealed, or had clearly been sealed and reopened.” In one of them, it said, observers “saw unsealed bags of ballot papers being taken downstairs to a campaign office of the [governing] Republican Party and then brought back up to the TEC premises sealed.”

The official vote results, reaffirmed by the Central Election Commission (CEC) at the weekend, gave the Republican Party (HHK) a landslide victory in the polls. Armenia’s leading opposition parties have refused to recognize its legitimacy, alleging widespread voter intimidation, vote buying, and other irregularities. Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian and other HHK leaders have strongly denied the allegations.

The OSCE mission also expressed serious concern at a major delay in the publication by the CEC of a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of election results in Yerevan, which is home to more than a third of the country’s population. Its report said the delay “cannot be explained by the slow rate of the counting and tabulation” and constitutes a “significant lapse in the promised transparency of recording election results.” The report did not specify whether these and other reported problems could have affected the overall election outcome.

The Armenian authorities seem worried about its possible impact on the OSCE’s final election verdict which is expected to be delivered by the end of next month. Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian promptly sent a letter to Frlec later on Thursday, asking him to provide “concrete information about those electoral precincts where the mentioned violations were recorded.” That information would enable Armenian prosecutors to investigate the reported fraud and “bring guilty individuals to account,” Hovsepian said in the letter posted on the website of the Prosecutor-General’s Office.

The CEC chairman, Garegin Azarian, also responded to the OSCE criticism in a separate letter sent to Frlec on Friday. Both the OSCE and the CEC refused to publicize it.

The OSCE mission, which has mainly consisted of long-term observers and other ODIHR experts since polling day, wrapped up its two-month activities in Armenia later in the day. A spokesman told RFE/RL that its members will continue to work on the text of their final election report at the ODIHR headquarters and in their respective countries.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Political scientist believes that the Armenian electors “for the first time voted rationally”

22-05-2007
Mediamax News Agency, Armenia

Yerevan, May 22. /Mediamax/. Political scientist, Director of the Caucasian Media Institute Aleksandr Iskandarian stated today that from the point of view of the international community, the parliamentary elections in Armenia were “a serious step in the direction of electoral development”.

Mediamax reports that the political scientist noted that the international observers gave a quite high assessment to the elections in Armenia, and this is of serious importance for the formation of a positive image of the country. Aleksandr Iskandarian noted that the given assessment was “especially jealously perceived by Azerbaijan”.

According to the political scientist, “it would be possible to cheat the international observers if they were assessing the political culture of Armenia, but they were assessing the technologies of the electoral process, and they were not cheated from this point of view”.

Aleksandr Iskandarian also stressed that “a serious step in the direction of development of the political system became the fact that the voting process of Armenian electors for the first time was not of mass emotional character, but a rational one”.--0--

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Defeated Candidate Ends Hunger Strike

Monday 21, May 2007
Armenia Liberty

By Astghik Bedevian

A former world boxing champion who unsuccessfully ran for Armenia’s parliament ended a five-day hunger strike on Monday after Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian promised to look into his allegations of vote rigging.

Israel Hakobkokhian, who had successfully represented the Soviet Union in amateur boxing competitions throughout the 1980s, stood as an independent in a single-member constituency in Yerevan’s southern Shengavit suburb. The election there was controversially won by Grigor Markarian, a businessman backed by Sarkisian’s governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK).

Both Hakobkokhian and Markarian’s main challenger, Heghine Bisharian of the opposition Orinats Yerkir Party, refused to concede defeat, alleging widespread vote buying and other violations. Bisharian reportedly plans to dispute the official results and demand their annulment in the court.

Hakobkokhian, who finished a distant third in the race, went on a hunger strike outside the Central Election Commission building with the same demands last Wednesday. He refused to end the protest despite CEC Chairman Garegin Azarian’s arguments that only Armenian courts have the authority to annul election results in majoritarian districts.

The boxer-turned-politician, known for his straightforward and eccentric rhetoric, warned that he will starve himself to death unless he is visited by Sarkisian. He claimed that local government and police officials in Shengavit allegedly involved in vote rigging told him that they acted on the Armenian premier’s orders.

Sarkisian paid a surprise visit to an exhausted but defiant Hakobkokhian early in the afternoon, embracing the ex-champion and asking him to end the hunger strike. The HHK leader declined a comment as he left the scene several minutes later.

“He said he will sit down and talk with me after I take some rest,” Hakobkokhian told RFE/RL. “I’m grateful to him for not putting my life at risk.”

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

WEST GIVES ARMENIAN LEADERS A BOOST AFTER DISPUTED ELECTION WIN

5/15/07
EurasiaNet
Emil Danielyan

The United States and the European Union have joined Western election observers in praising the conduct of Armenia’s weekend parliamentary elections, which were controversially swept by political allies of President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian. Analysts and civil society activists say that the development will give the Armenian leaders more ammunition to dismiss allegations of vote rigging made by their demoralized opponents, local media, and civic groups.

The May 12 elections were judged largely democratic by some 400 observers mostly deployed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its Warsaw-based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The OSCE-led monitoring mission also comprised parliamentarians from the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe. In a preliminary report released in Yerevan on May 13, the mission described the vote as a significant improvement over previous Armenian elections tainted by serious fraud. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The EU welcomed the observers’ findings a few hours later. Germany, which currently holds the bloc’s rotating presidency, said in a statement that the elections were "on the whole, conducted fairly, freely and largely in accordance with the international commitments which Armenia had entered into." In a separate statement, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, congratulated "the people of Armenia on the improvements in the conduct of the parliamentary elections."

Both Germany and Solana indicated that Armenia will now be able to forge closer links with the EU under the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) framework. EU officials had for months been warning that a recently negotiated set of related initiatives could be put on hold in the event of fresh electoral fraud.

"This is good news for EU-Armenia relations, in particular as they were the first elections after Armenia and the EU agreed last year on a wide-reaching Action Plan," Solana said.

The United States was more cautious in praising the Armenian authorities’ handling of the election. "Our judgment so far is that this election was an improvement toward international standards," read a statement issued by the US embassy in Yerevan on May 15. The statement noted that long-term OSCE observers will continue to analyze the official vote results and might still detect more serious irregularities. "Part of the election process is a careful consideration of all issues raised in connection with the election, including several serious allegations of fraud or intimidation which may have affected the outcome of some of the races," the embassy said.

Even so, the US reaction was markedly different from Washington’s strong criticism of the last Armenian parliamentary and presidential elections in 2003. Armenian observers believe Yerevan is now well placed to receive the first major installment of $236 million in additional US economic assistance from the Millenium Challenge Account (MCA) program.

"Armenia’s leaders have never enjoyed such positive post-election treatment by the international community before," said Tevan Poghosian, director of the International Center for Human Development, a Yerevan-based private think-tank.

"Assuming that the OSCE’s final election report will mirror their preliminary findings, Armenia’s image abroad will improve considerably," agreed Levon Zurabian, an independent political scientist. "The authorities will be able to act with more confidence both in the international arena and at home."

Indeed, Western criticisms of the past Armenian elections gave the Armenian opposition a significant argument to challenge the legitimacy of Kocharian’s almost decade-long rule. The OSCE’s latest election verdict will enable Kocharian and his heir apparent, Prime Minister Sarkisian, to claim the moral high ground with the opposition over election results giving three pro-government parties overwhelming control of Armenia’s new parliament. Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), the official election winner, alone will control at least 65 seats in the 131-member National Assembly. Another 40 other seats will be held by two other parties loyal to President Kocharian, Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The legislative elections were widely seen as the rehearsal for next year’s presidential vote, in which Prime Minister Sarkisian is expected to run. Despite the vote’s positive assessment by the West, few Armenian analysts and civil society representatives consider it democratic. "There seem to have been no serious incidents in polling stations during both voting and counting of ballots, which is undoubtedly a positive phenomenon," the Yerevan daily Aravot said in an editorial. "But even to say that the elections moved a little closer to European standards would be a mockery of those standards."

At a May 14 press conference, civil society leaders echoed that frustration. "If this is an international standard, we can honestly say we don’t need these international standards," commented Boris Navashardian, president of the Yerevan Press Club. "The election is not election day only," added Larisa Minasyan, executive director of the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation – Armenia. "We’re talking about the whole process." [Both the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation – Armenia and EurasiaNet.org operate under the auspices of the Open Society Institute].

Virtually all major opposition parties and media critical of the government claim that the outcome of the poll was essentially decided by massive vote buying by the RPA and Prosperous Armenia. Throughout voting day there were numerous reports of busloads of presumably bribed voters transported to polling stations in Yerevan and other parts of the country. Boris Frlec, head of the ODIHR mission, said his observers also witnessed the busing.

"Our observers have reported a number of cases where vote buying on election day could be indicated, but very difficult to prove," Frlec told journalists on May 13. "There were groups of people who were waiting in lines, there were groups of people seen with some money and so on. But we could include in our report only things that were seen and actually proven."

In the months preceding the vote, the Armenian press had reported on the widespread collection of voters’ passport data by local government officials and RPA and Prosperous Armenia activists. Representatives of the two parties also reportedly visited or telephoned households across the country to ascertain for whom they planned to vote. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Some opposition leaders now say that was aimed at clarifying the names of hundreds of thousands of Armenians who live and work abroad but remain listed in voter registries. They allege that the authorities handed out a comparable number of fake passports to bribed voters who also cast ballots in place of the absent citizens.

"We have grounds to assert that there were mobile voting groups of people, and each member of those groups had about 10 passports bearing their pictures but [printed with] the names of other people," Nikol Pashinian, a leader of the radical Impeachment bloc, charged at a May 13 opposition rally in Yerevan.

In response, the police promptly laughed off the allegations, questioning the opposition member’s sanity. Pashinian has, in turn, called for a selective verification of official documents which voters had to sign before casting ballots.

Editor’s Note: Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and political analyst. Elizabeth Owen, EurasiaNet’s Caucasus news editor, contributed reporting to this article.

Posted May 15, 2007 © Eurasianet
http://www.eurasianet.org


Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

EU's Solana praises Armenian election, opposition blasts it

14/ 05/ 2007
Ria Novosti

BRUSSELS, May 14 (RIA Novosti) - EU foreign policy and security chief, Javier Solana, praised Monday parliamentary elections in Armenia saying they were held in line with international norms and regulations, while local opposition parties said the poll was undemocratic.

More than 2 million Armenians voted May 12 in Armenia's fourth elections since the South Caucasus country gained independence in 1991, with twenty-two parties and one election bloc running for 131 seats in the parliament.

According to preliminary results, three parties backing the current prime minister and the president won an overwhelming majority. Two opposition parties also got seats in the legislature.

Solana called the poll a considerable progress and said it was held in line with norms of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the requirements of the Council of Europe. He added the elections were the first since the European Union and Armenia signed the Neighborhood Policy Action Plan in 2006.

But, opposition parties claimed the vote was falsified, undemocratic and not free.

Stepan Demirchyan, the leader of the Armenian People's Party, said Monday that "the new parliament does not reflect the will of people and has been formed by mass bribes, terror and intimidation". His party, formed in 1998, received about 24,000 of votes (1.7%) failing to overcome the 5% barrier necessary to gain parliamentary seats.

Another opposition party, Orinats Yerkir, which cleared the barrier, has said: "Intimidation of electors, use of bribes and non-existent ballot papers, numerous breaches in the vote count and the distortion of real voting results give ground to question the legitimacy of elections."

The processing of 99.99% of ballot papers showed Sunday that five parties elected to the parliament are - the Republican Party led by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan with 33.8% of the vote, the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia and Dashnatsutyun with 15.1% and 13.1% of the vote, respectively, and the opposition parties Orinats Yerkir and Heritage with 7% and 6% of the vote, accordingly.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

European Commissioner stated that “Armenia has made an important step forward in fulfilling a key priority of the ENP Action Plan”

14-05-2007
Mediamax

Yerevan, May 14. /Mediamax/. European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) Benita Ferrero-Waldner stated today that, holding the parliamentary elections largely in accordance with the international standards, “Armenia has thus made an important step forward in fulfilling a key priority of the EU / Armenia Action Plan under the European Neighborhood Policy”.

Mediamax reports that the member of the European Commission expressed confidence that “the new parliament, together with the new government, will continue firmly on the path of reform”.

“This is vital for the Armenian people as well as for the future of our relationship", Benita Ferrero-Waldner stated.--0--

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

U.S. Embassy: “Armenian election was an improvement toward international standards”

14-05-2007
Mediamax

Yerevan, May 14. /Mediamax/. The U.S. Embassy made a statement today, congratulating Armenia on “a more successful poll than previous elections”.

Mediamax reports that the statement of the Embassy reads: “We share the satisfaction of international observers that the election infrastructure, both legal and technical, has been greatly improved.

We are proud that our partnership with government and non-government structures in Armenia has supported these improvements. We value highly the work of the many election officials who were dedicated to completing their work with integrity.

We note ODIHR Ambassador Frlec’s comment that this election is not over.

Our judgment so far is that this election was an improvement toward international standards.

Part of the election process is a careful consideration of all issues raised in connection with the election, including several serious allegations of fraud or intimidation which may have affected the outcome of some of the races.

We hope for aggressive investigation of allegations of electoral wrongdoing and subsequent prosecutions, should they be warranted”, the statement of the U.S. Embassy reads.--0--

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Update: Five parties elected to Armenia parliament -election commission

13/ 05/ 2007
RIA Novosti

YEREVAN, May 13 (RIA Novosti) - Five parties have been elected to Armenia's parliament, with the pro-presidential parties leading the polls, the ex-Soviet nation's election commission said Sunday.

The processing of 99.99% of ballot papers showed that the Republican Party led by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan received 457,032 votes (33.8%), the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia and Dashnatsutyun gained 204,043 (15.1%) and 177,192 (13.1%) votes, respectively, while the opposition parties Orinats Yerkir and Heritage won 95,256 (7%) and 80,890 (6%) votes, accordingly, the election commission said.

More than 2 million Armenians voted May 12 in Armenia's fourth elections since the South Caucasus country gained independence in 1991, with twenty-two parties and one election bloc running for 131 seats in the parliament.

However, opposition parties said the vote was falsified and affected the election results. Particularly, Orinats Yerkir said it intends to challenge the vote results in a court of law.

"There were large-scale violations in the process of voting and during the vote count. The intimidation of electors, the use of bribes and non-existent ballot papers, numerous breaches in the vote count and the distortion of real voting results give ground to question the legitimacy of elections," the party said in a statement.

Observers earlier said they had not registered any serious violations during the parliamentary elections.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Armenian Elections ‘Largely Democratic,’ Say Western Observers

Sunday 13, May 2007
Armenialiberty
By Emil Danielyan

Western observers made a positive assessment of the Armenian government’s handling of the weekend parliamentary elections, saying that they were largely democratic despite a “bad” counting of ballots in a considerable number of polling stations.

The findings of some 400 observers mostly representing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) came as a further serious boost for President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, who have retained a comfortable majority in Armenia’s parliament.

“The Armenian election elections were an improvement from previous elections and were conducted largely in accordance with international standards for democratic elections,” Tone Tingsgaard, vice-president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, said on behalf of the observer mission that also comprised parliamentarians from the European Union and the Council of Europe.

“The conduct of the voting was assessed positively in the vast majority of polling stations observed,” she told a news conference in Yerevan. “And the vote count, although very slow, was mostly conducted in a correct manner.”

“It is good to see that the previous elections, which were strongly criticized by the international community, were not repeated,” said Leo Platvoet, head of a delegation of observers from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). The Armenian authorities have addressed many of the election-related recommendations made by the Strasbourg-based organization, he said.

Marie Anne Isler Beguin, who led a smaller team of monitors from the European Parliament, likewise said that the elections took place without “major incidents” and were a “step forward” in the democratization of Armenia’s political system.

A 10-page preliminary report released by the heads of the OSCE-led observer mission concluded at the same time that the authorities in Yerevan were “unable to fully deliver a performance consistent with their stated intention that the election would meet international standards and some issues remained unaddressed.” It noted in particular that counting of ballots was “bad or very bad” in about 20 percent of polling stations visited by the observers.

“This figure is far too high to [make one] feel comfortable,” said Platvoet.

Boris Frlec, who led the mission’s core segment deployed by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, expressed concern at a delayed the tabulation of vote results from many polling station in Yerevan by the Central Election Commission. “This does not correspond to the fact that have already received vote protocols [from those polling stations] this morning,” he said. “The mission is in the process of comparing data from the received protocols with all the election results posted on the CEC website.”

Both Frlec and Platvoet said that their observers also witnessed instances of voters being bused to polling stations across the country. But they said the observers have no compelling evidence to claim that those voters were bribed by pro-government candidates. Armenian opposition parties say vote buying was widespread during and in the run-up to Saturday’s voting.

The mission’s report listed specific polling stations in various parts of the country where the mostly Western observers claim to have witnessed multiple voting, “deliberate falsification of results,” and other types of electoral fraud.

Still, Tingsgaard insisted that none of those reported violations were serious enough to significantly affect the election outcome. But she stopped short of explicitly endorsing the credibility of the vote results released by the Central Election Commission. “It is my hope that they reflect the will of the people,” said the OSCE parliamentarian.

“It’s not black and it’s not white,” Platvoet said of the conduct of the vote. “But I think it’s more white than black.”

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Fear Stalks Armenian District on Eve of Poll

10-May-07
IWPR

Regional governor accused of intimidating opponents, leaving voters with few choices in assembly ballot.

By Gayane Mkrtchian in Syunik (CRS No. 391 10-May-07)

Armenia’s southern mountainous region of Syunik used to be loved for its spectacular scenery, but nowadays it is more associated with its controversial “marzpet” or governor who is making waves during the current parliamentary election campaign.

“The marzpet of Syunik is the master of the situation - in the negative sense, of course,” said Harutiun Hambardzumian, head of the non-governmental organisation The Choice is Yours. “He controls everything. The authorities organise the elections perfectly so that there are no evident violations of law. But people are scared and terrorised. The atmosphere of fear is so strong that people do not dare to revolt, they do what they are told.”

The governor, who is appointed by the central government in Yerevan, is Suren Khachatrian, more commonly known by his nickname Litska, a modified form of the Russian word “lisa” or fox, signifying his alleged cunning.

In recent elections, the city of Goris 250 kilometres south of Yerevan, has always elected the candidate of the pro-government Republican Party of Armenia, backed by Khachatrian.

The head of the regional electoral commission Arman Stepanian says that he is proud of the high turnout his district always enjoys, and that he has never seen any irregularities in the polls.

The candidate for the forthcoming May 12 election for the opposition nationalist Dashnaktsutiun party - formerly a member of the governing coalition of Armenia - disputes this, and is highly critical of the governor’s role in elections.

“In Syunik, especially in Goris, there have been many gross, outrageous violations of people’s rights,” said Samvel Harutiunian. “Syunik rightly has the most negative electoral record in our country.”

There are many serious allegations against the governor and his family, several of them raised by the Yerevan newspaper Aravot. Khachatrian strongly rejects them all, while conceding that several of his relatives have got into trouble with the law.

The governor’s nephew, Mayis Khachatrian, is serving a jail sentence in Yerevan, having been transferred there from Goris prison on health grounds. He was convicted of having stabbed 33-year-old Hovhanes Badalian to death. Other relatives have been accused of acts of aggression and violence by the Yerevan media but have not been prosecuted.

IWPR tried to put the allegations to the governor, but was unable to get an interview.

Although an election campaign is in progress, the opposition parties have barely been able to hold any meetings in the towns of Syunik - Goris, Sisian and Kapan.

When Vazgen Manukian, a former Armenian prime minister and a veteran of the Soviet-era independence struggle, visited Kapan, he was denied both a hotel room and prevented from organising a meeting with voters. Manukian said that the manager of a hotel in Goris where he tried to get a room told him he received angry calls from the police asking why he was giving shelter to an “enemy”.

The press secretary of the opposition Heritage Party, Hovsep Khurshudian, said they were constantly receiving alarming reports from Syunik and had lost the services of almost 40 party activists who came under pressure. He said that Syunik was the only place in Armenia where voters were even afraid to take campaign leaflets from activists.

“As soon as they saw us approaching, they just turned around and left,” he said. “It’s a feudal regime here, it’s unacceptable for Armenia.”

Khachatrian said he knew nothing about harassment of Manukian and that no one in his district was being intimidated. “I’ve been elected parliamentary deputy three times by majority vote,” he told Aravot. “I’ve been elected mayor and head of city administration, but with no violations. We do not pressure anybody. People have their own views.”

The local leader of the Heritage Party, Mher Kumunts, blames opposition parties and the public for being passive and colluding in the climate of fear. “The weakness of the people is abused by other forces who act more aggressively,” he said. “We ourselves are the creators of our fear; we wouldn’t be scared by others if we weren’t afraid ourselves.”

Meanwhile, residents feel they have little choice come the weekend election. One local approached by IWPR in Goris market said, “Everyone here says they will vote for the Republican Party because they don’t want to lose their jobs.”

Gayane Mkrtchian is a reporter with ArmeniaNow, www.armenianow.com

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

ARMENIAN OFFICIALS BAN INDEPENDENT OBSERVERS FROM MONITORING ELECTIONS

2007/05/10
businessportal24
Blog Press Release
Press Release from: MWMA

The Central European Group of Political Monitoring (Germany) and the Independent American Center for Political Monitoring are NGOs who monitored elections in Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. We are shocked by the authorities who violated the Constitution and prevented us from observing the Armenian Parliamentary elections. In April we asked to monitor Parliamentary elections scheduled for May 12, 2007. This right is granted by Articles 28, 29 and 30 of Armenian law.

Article 28. 1. International organizations shall have the right to carry out observation missions: Article 29.

Accreditation of Observers 1. Organizations specified in Article 28 of this Code may carry out observation missions after being accredited by the Central Electoral Commission. Nothing in these laws prevents our organizations from monitoring the elections without an invitation. This would cripple the democratic missions and the independent NON-governmental observers. We contacted the Head of the Department of Foreign Relations, Ms. L. Symonian at the Elections Committee. Ms. Symonian said that in order for us to monitor the elections, we would have to invited by the government or Parliament. We next contacted the International Organizations Department to obtain an invitation. We were informed that invitations were extended only to government-affiliated organizations.

We called the Elections Committee and were told that the governmental organization requirement derives from Par. 1, Article 28, an amendment to the election law. We were unable to familiarize ourselves with the new law, as there is NO English language version of the amended law on the website of the Elections Committee or anywhere else. We received the same excuse from the Armenian Embassy in Washington. The absence of an English translation raises questions about the existence of such an amendment. If it does exist, its content demonstrates the decision of the party in power to allow only corrupt organizations observe the elections, or those organizations that they could not prevent from observing for one reason or another.

Our suspicions were confirmed by a conversation held with Ms. Symonian and the Head of Staff of the Elections Committee Mr. Levon Grigoryan. We were told, “The Central Elections Committee had completed the list of organizations that will monitor the elections: (The Executive Committee of CIS, The Council of Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of CIS State-Members, and The OSCE/ODIHR, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly) are invited by the government. No one will make changes to the list.” When we asked Mr. Gregorian whether he understood that such a violation of law constituted a crime, he responded that the decision of the Elections Committee would stand. When we requested a denial in writing, they hung up the phone. The failure to allow independent observers casts doubts on the legitimacy of the elections in Armenia.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Armenian court sanctions ex-foreign minister's arrest

10/ 05/ 2007

YEREVAN, May 10 (RIA Novosti) - A court in Yerevan sanctioned Thursday the arrest of a former Armenian foreign minister who was detained May 8 and is facing money laundering charges.

Alexander Arzumanyan and the country's former deputy defense minister Vaan Shirkhanyan, founders of the public organization, Civil Disobedience Movement, had agreed with Levon Markos, a Russian national, who has been wanted for financial fraud since 2005, to transfer and launder money in April. It was established that on April 27 the three offenders transferred $180,000 to nine front parties through a bank in Yerevan.

Last Saturday investigators found foreign currency in the two former politician's flats, including $55,400 in cash in Arzumanyan's apartment. An investigation is underway.

Arzumanyan was Armenia's foreign minister from November 1996 through February 1998, and Shirkhanyan held the post of deputy defense minister from 1994 through 1999.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Armenia: Parliamentary Vote Sets Scene For 2008 Presidential Race

Friday, May 11, 2007
RFE/RL
By Brian Whitmore

May 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Armenians go to the polls on May 12 to vote in hotly contested parliamentary elections.

The outcome is likely to dictate the course of the country's presidential vote in 2008, and the West has pressed for tomorrow's vote to be free and fair.

But with the Armenian opposition divided and Russia strongly supporting the current regime, a change of power in Yerevan looks unlikely.

On May 9, a crowd of antigovernment protestors gathered in Yerevan and said if there was even a hint of fraud in the parliamentary vote, they would take to the streets in massive numbers.

Activist Nikol Pashinian told the crowd that the protest -- which organizers said swelled as high as 15,000 people -- was a sign that the importance of the opposition was growing.

"Victory does not come at once. Victory comes step by step. And today we took an important step toward victory," Pashinian.

International Monitoring

The international community has made it clear that is wants to see an improvement over Armenia's last parliamentary elections, in 2003, when there were widespread allegations of voter fraud.

More than 400 electoral observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will be in the country to visit polling stations. Observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Council of Europe will also be present.

"Victory does not come at once. Victory comes step by step."Harri Kamarainen, the head of the Caucasus Department at the OSCE's Conflict Prevention Center, says it is time for Armenia to show for the first time since independence that it can hold a clean vote.

"We have to accept the fact that big changes don't take place overnight and each country has their traditions. But we wish to see a clear improvement, and now Armenia should really demonstrate to the international community that they are able to conduct democratic and free and fair elections," Kamarainen said.

The vote is not just a legislative election, but also a dress rehearsal for Armenia's presidential election next year.

Presidential Vote

President Robert Kocharian is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term. Many observers say Kocharian and the Armenian ruling elite are trying to use the parliamentary elections to ensure that Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, who is Kocharian's close friend and political ally, wins the presidency in 2008.

Aram Abraman, a political analyst and editor in chief of the daily "Aravot," expects the party of power, the Republican Party, to win with a large majority, but with the assistance of falsification.

Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian could run for president in 2008 (AFP) "After this, their [the Republican Party's] leader, the current Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian will have the possibility to run for president. And in that election he will also win by a large margin," Abraman says.

Sarkisian's ruling Republican Party enjoys a wide lead in public opinion polls. He also has the strong support of Russia, which has traditionally held a lot of influence over Armenian politics.

Sarkisian, Kocharian, and other high-ranking officials say every effort will be made to ensure the vote conforms to European standards of fairness.

Western skepticism about clean conduct of the vote has raised hackles in Yerevan and Moscow, which supports the current Armenian regime.

The Kremlin says it is raising the number of CIS election observers traveling to Yerevan in an effort to counter what it considers to be bias among Western observers.

Opposition

The closest competitor to Sarkisian's Republican Party is another pro-government party called Prosperous Armenia.

Gagik Tsarukian, a wealthy tycoon and former world arm-wrestling champion, formed the party with Kocharian's blessing last year. Critics allege that the move was a ploy to siphon votes away from the opposition while maintaining an image of plurality.

Prosperous Armenia has since been climbing steadily in the polls. Its popularity may be tied to media reports that Tsarukian's party is offering Armenians cash payments in exchange for agreeing to vote for the party.

Armenia's opposition, meanwhile, has failed to unite around a single antigovernment party or platform. As a result, several opposition groups are all in competition for a shrinking pool of voters.

"Aravot" editor Abraman says the opposition also lacks a single leader -- like Georgia's Mikheil Saakashvili or Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko -- that can rally the masses.

According to opinion polls, the strongest opposition party is Orinats Yerkir (Law-Based State), led by former Parliamentary speaker Artur Baghdasarian.

The opposition Heritage Party, led by U.S.-born former Foreign Minister Raffi Hovannisian, also has a chance to win seats in parliament.

Campaign Criticism

Opposition leaders have complained that they have not had fair access to the media and that news coverage has been biased in favor of pro-government parties.

Opposition leaders also accuse the government of using dirty tricks and intimidation during the campaign.

Authorities on May 8 arrested former Foreign Minister and current opposition activist Aleksandr Arzumanian for alleged money laundering. The opposition says the arrest was politically motivated.

Given this environment, Abraman says ironically he expects Saturday's vote to be marked by massive fraud, Western protests -- and little else.

"Of course there will be declarations. The U.S. State Department, the Council of Europe, the European Union will announce that there was flagrant falsification, but that they hope the Armenian government will take steps to ensure that those responsible will be punished and that in 2008 the election will be more fair," Abraman says.

"And then in 2008 they will say that they hope that those falsifiers [in the presidential vote] will be punished, and that in 2012 or 2013 [when the next parliamentary vote will be held] the election will be fairer."

But the United States says $235 million in aid to Armenia under the Millennium Challenge Fund could be threatened if the election is deemed unfair. Likewise, the European Union says a fair election is necessary for Armenia to continue participating in its European Neighborhood Policy program.

As Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian puts it, if there is electoral fraud on May 12, the international community won't just say "shame on you" to Armenia.

This time, Oskanian says, there will be "negative economic consequences."

(RFE/RL's Armenian Service contributed to this report.)

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

There are 2 285 830 voters in Armenia

10.05.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

The final electoral register includes 2 285 830 voters, first deputy chief of the Armenian police, lieutenant general Ararat Mahtesyan told a news conference in Yerevan.

The electoral rolls included 2 328 747 voters initially. Then they were reduced to 2 285 830 potential voters as result of clarifications carried out by the police, he said.

9 000 people in active service, 9 037 dead, 430 convicted and 26 300 citizens who changed their residence were excluded from the lists, Novosti Armenia reports.

The Armenian parliamentary election will be held May 12.

22 parties and one bloc run for the parliament. 1245 candidates will be competing for 131-seat parliament by proportional system and 119 candidates by majoritarian system.

According to the Constitution, parties will occupy 90 seats; 41 seats are meant for candidates from constituencies.

! Reproduction in full or in part is prohibited without reference to «PanARMENIAN.Net».

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Opposition rally dispersed in Yerevan May 9

10.05.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

An opposition rally was dispersed in Yerevan May 9. Supporters of Impeachment bloc marched to National Security Service building to protest the arrest of former Foreign Minister Alexander Arzumanyan.

New Times party leader Aram Karapetyan said police met the people with batons and tear-gas. “On half-way ‘red berets’ started pushing the people aside. As result, several men including New Times political council member Rafael Khostikyan and Impeachment bloc member David Matevosyan were injured when approaching the NSS building.

Karapetyan also said 4 rally participants were detained but released later on. “If they want to frighten us this way, they did not succeed. We rate it as political provocation. None of the leaders of Impeachment bloc, New Times party and Republic party left the rally,” he said.

The rally initiators claim that some 20 thousand people took part in it. Police, however, says the number did not exceed 5 thousand, IA Regnum reports.

Armenian parliamentary election in due on May 12.

! Reproduction in full or in part is prohibited without reference to «PanARMENIAN.Net».

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Voter Apathy Appears Widespread on Eve of Parliamentary Poll

May 9, 2007
EurasiaNet, NY
By Marianna Grigoryan

With just over a day left in Armenia's parliamentary campaign, many voters say that it will take more than promises of a strong army or increased pensions to get them to the polls on May 12. Some sociologists put the disinterest down to political parties' failure to use professional public relations techniques. Many parties, however, counter that they see no reason for experts to help them engage with voters.

Frustration with past elections, which many voters believe were rigged, appears to drive much of the apathy.

"No matter what happens, our life will not change. No matter who is elected or not elected, nothing can change," said 50-year-old Martin Hovhannisian, a former chemical engineer who now earns a living by driving a cab in one of Yerevan's suburbs. "As I see no prospects, I will not go to the polls. The elections are for officials and do not change anything in the lives of ordinary people."

Pensioner Margarit Minasian also plans to stay at home. She points at buses that brought students and people working for state-run organizations -- reportedly involuntarily -- to a Yerevan rally for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia.

"If everything is turned into theater and people try to show something using their strength, why should I believe in our tomorrow?" she sighed.

International observers have already noted this mood. During an April 27 press conference, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Armenia Office Head Vladimir Pryakhin stated that OSCE surveys indicate that more than half of Armenian voters do not want to participate in the elections.

"It is difficult for me to say why it is so, but the latest surveys show that 90 percent of eligible voters do not connect their and their families' future with the outcome of the upcoming elections," Pryakhin told reporters. "It is not that they mistrust politicians, they simply do not feel dependent on them," he noted about the elections. The fact that many Armenians rely on relatives abroad for financial support could explain the low interest in domestic politics, he added.

Similarly, an April 3-10 opinion poll of 2,000 Armenians conducted by British pollster Populus reported that 50 percent of respondents believe that the elections' outcome will have no personal significance for them. Thirty percent noted that there will be no change in Armenia generally, and only 10 percent of respondents expressed optimism about the elections' consequences.

Some sociologists argue that part of the problem is that Armenian political parties have not yet learned how to engage the public's attention and retain it for a month-long campaign. The knowledge of how "to conduct a competent and correct campaign . . . is absent in Armenia," commented Gevorg Poghosian, head of the Armenian Sociological Association.

A campaign poster featuring a photograph of an official sitting at a table and captioned "Strength and Faith" typifies the favored approach for pro-government party posters. Such placards can be seen throughout Armenian towns - even on the walls of kindergartens - and with little variation in facial expressions or slogans. Opposition posters tend to be equally non-descript.

"Time is moving on, but the campaign here is conducted on the level of the 1990's," said political campaign specialist Armen Badalian. " Everyone says that they will build a strong army, will raise pensions, will solve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. The same thing constantly."

Attention to details frequently seems lacking. Information about rallies and concerts is not always widely distributed even within the parties themselves, much less to the press or public. The April 18 to May 2 report of the OSCE/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Election Observation Mission notes that "most parties appear to favor an approach of holding unannounced or short-notice rallies."

The result, continued Badalian, is a campaign "which cannot have any impact on the public."

"For a good result, political parties must work with voters for at least one year, conduct surveys, decide on psychological aspects [of the campaign], how they can influence the voter," said Badalian, who would not disclose for which parties he himself is working. "But what is happening is that, if, say, they are bribing voters [with handouts], they think they have already achieved their result and never think of consulting a specialist. They think they can do everything."

An informal poll of about a dozen political parties conducted by EurasiaNet found that none had turned to outside advisors for help with grabbing voters' interest.

"What specialist can help us if we ourselves have a good knowledge of this business?" asked Prosperous Armenia Party spokesman Baghdasar Mherian. "I conducted PR for President Robert Kocharian in the 2003 presidential election, and, as you see, we succeeded then, so we will be successful this time around as well."

A similar view holds on the other side of the political divide as well. Nikol Pashinian, a newspaper editor and one of the leaders of the hardline opposition Impeachment alliance argues that such specialists serve no purpose.

"If you have something to say to the people and thousands of people come to listen to you, and you do not follow any rule, but simply say what you want to say, then people will understand you," Pashinian said.

To improve voter engagement with the campaign, one member of the Republican Party of Armenia parliamentary faction has proposed shortening future parliamentary campaigns from the current 33 days to one or two weeks.

But for voters like 75-year-old Yerevan resident Varazdat Hakobian a larger problem still lingers on.

"Everyone smiles, shows they think about us, while everyone has in their minds how to cheat us and get hold of our votes and then disappear for years until the next election," Hakobian said. "Everyone is lying, so I won't go to the polls. Let them lie without me."

Editor's Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a reporter for the independent online weekly ArmeniaNow in Yerevan.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.