OSCE Reports Flawed Recounts, `Implausible' Vote Results In Armenia
Raising more questions about the freedom and fairness of Armenia's presidential election, Western election observers said on Friday that vote recounts in polling stations across the country were not conducted properly and exposed errors in official vote results.
In their first post-election interim report, the observers representing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also noted `anomalies' in the results from other electoral precincts. They said the reported problems will affect the OSCE mission's final assessment of the Armenian authorities' conduct of the February 19 vote. It is due to be made public by May.
In their preliminary assessment made public on February 20, the more than 300 monitors concluded that the election was administered `mostly in accordance' with democratic standards. But they also reported serious irregularities during the coun -ting of ballots in 16 percent of the polling stations visited by them on election day.
More such irregularities were exposed during recounts subsequently conducted in 153 of Armenia's 1,922 precincts. OSCE observers were present at many of those recounts.
`The majority of recounts observed showed discrepancies and mistakes in the original count, some of which were significant and raise questions over the political impartiality of PECs (precinct election commissions) and TECs (district election commissions),' read their report. It also cited two Yerevan precincts where the recounts were disrupted by government loyalists.
One of those precincts was stormed by a group of men who `forced TEC members and other authorized persons including candidate proxies, journalists, and an OSCE/ODIHR observer to leave the TEC premises, while police officers passively stood by.' In the other Yerevan precinct, the report said, an unknown man stole an envelope containing valid ballots marked in favor of opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian.
The observers also pointed to `implausibly high turnout' reported by election commissions in Yerevan and other parts of the country. In virtually all of those cases Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian got more than 90 percent of the vote, compared with his national total of 52.8 percent reported by the Central Election Commission (CEC).
The OSCE report singled out four villages in the Goris area in southeastern Armenia where Sarkisian got over 99 per cent of the vote, with a turnout of 97 to 99.5 per cent. `Even taking into account that Serzh Sarkisian has strong familial links to the Goris area results from the four PECs are striking,' it said.
The report also criticized the CEC for effectively ignoring complaints received from Ter-Petrosian and other candidates after polling day. `In the post election period, the CEC received several complaints; its handling of these did not provide complainants with an effective remedy and raises concern about its commitment to ensure the protection of citizens' electoral rights,' it said.
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March 7, 2008
Editorial
Dark Days in Armenia
The democracy that Armenians dreamed of during their long decades under Moscow’s yoke is slipping away. After opponents challenged last month’s flawed presidential election, the government imposed a brutal state of emergency. At least eight people are now dead, independent news outlets throttled and all protests silenced. President Bush and other Western leaders need to make clear to Armenia’s government that such behavior is unacceptable and will jeopardize future relations. Compared to post-Soviet tyrannies like Belarus or Uzbekistan, Armenia may not look so bad. That is why it is so important to halt this slide into authoritarianism before it is too late.
Official election results handed an overwhelming victory to the ruling party candidate, Serge Sargsyan. International monitors declared that while the overall outcome appeared fair, there were serious problems with the vote count. The protests that followed only turned violent after police began beating demonstrators.
Witnesses told our colleague, Sabrina Tavernise, that government authorities planted guns and grenades among the sleeping protestors last Saturday morning. Then, claiming that they were thwarting an attempted coup, police attacked the opposition camp. The next day, the outgoing president sent tanks into the streets, banned demonstrations and ordered Armenian news organizations to relay only information provided by his government. Local stations can no longer use the Armenian language programs produced by foreign broadcasters including the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
That drew an admirably strong protest from Washington’s Broadcasting Board of Governors, the independent federal agency that supervises these stations, while the State Department has expressed its concern over the death toll. Their words would carry more weight if President Bush added his voice. Armenia, embroiled in a lengthy standoff with neighboring Azerbaijan, is relatively isolated in its own region and especially values its good relations with the United States.
This is not a case of pure democratic virtue against pure authoritarian evil. The defeated opposition leader, Levon Ter-Petrossian, is a former president who in the 1990s sent armored cars into the streets to crush demonstrators protesting his electoral manipulations.
He insists, without credible evidence, that he won this election. And once government forces set off last weekend’s violence, some of those who turned out in Mr. Ter-Petrossian’s behalf seemed more interested in looting nearby shops. The main responsibility lies with Armenia’s government leaders, and it is to them that the White House must address its protests.
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PRESCOTT LEADS ARMENIA PEACE TRIP
BBC NEWS
2008/03/06 14:03:22 GMT
Ex-deputy prime minister John Prescott is heading a diplomatic mission
aimed at defusing Armenia's political crisis.
A state of emergency has been in force in the capital, Yerevan, since
1 March, after violence erupted amid allegations of vote-rigging in
recent elections.
Mr Prescott is visiting as a member of the Council of Europe's
Parliamentary Assembly, which he joined in October.
He will meet outgoing president Robert Kocharian and president-elect
Serzh Sarkisian during his two-day trip.
The crisis followed recent presidential elections, in which the prime
minister, Mr Sarkisian, won a large majority.
The main opposition leader and former president, Levon Ter-Petrosian,
claims the election was rigged.
At the time of the elections on 19 February, John Prescott headed a
similar delegation which travelled around Armenia, observing the poll.
They judged the election to have been generally democratic, but said
there had been some problems with the counting of votes.
Official election results in Armenia gave Serzh Sarkisian 53% of the
vote, and Levon Ter-Petrosian 21.5%.
The Council of Europe has sent Mr Prescott back to Armenia on what
it calls a "snap visit", concerned by the violence and the imposition
of the state of emergency.
The aim is to "assess the post-electoral situation... and explore
possibilities for defusing the current political crisis and promoting
dialogue", the Council said in a statement.
Mr Prescott will also meet defeated candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian.
Opposition anger
The crisis in Armenia began when opposition demonstrators responded to
electoral defeat with 11 days of mass demonstrations in the capital,
setting up barricades in Yerevan's city centre.
The government declared the protests were illegal, and on 1 March
police fought pitched battles with demonstrators on the streets.
Eight people who had been demonstrating in support of the defeated
opposition candidate, Levon Ter-Petrosian, were killed. About 100
others were injured in the violence.
Mr Ter-Petrosian was placed under house arrest, but has been allowed
out to attend proceedings at the Constitutional Court to challenge
the election results.
Mr Prescott joined the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe
last October, as leader of the UK contingent of 18 Westminster MPs.
The Council of Europe is a body founded in 1949 to promote democratic
ideals and human rights in Europe, and is not part of the apparatus
of the European Union.
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ARMENIAN UNREST THREATENS PEACE IN NAGARNO-KARABAKH - FEATURE
Earthtimes
March 6 2008
UK
Moscow/Yerevan - Border fighting between Armenia and Azeri troops
in the disputed region of Nagarno-Karabakh turned to heavy artillery
shelling this week in the worst clashes since a 1994 ceasefire that
ended a six-year, full-scale war. Between 15 and 16 soldiers died
and dozens were injured in Wednesday night clashes according to
conflicting casualty claims by Armenian and Azeri officials.
Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov on Thursday accused Armenia
of initiating the battle to distract from violent post- election
opposition protests at home that led the president to impose a 20-day
emergency rule over the capital Yerevan.
But Armenian President Robert Kocharian hit back Thursday: "The Azeris
thought that the situation in Armenia had dulled the vigilance of
our armed forces in Karabakh, that all our large military divisions
had been relocated."
The unresolved status of Nagarno-Karabakh, an Azeri province controlled
by ethnic Armenian separatists, was the hottest topic in Armenia's
February 19 elections and daily protests since then have led to
clashes with police in which eight people died Sunday.
The opposition's leader, Armenia's first post-Soviet president Levon
Ter-Petrosian, pledged to "correct" what he called "his biggest
mistake": bringing into government top military officials from
Nagorno-Karabakh such as incumbent Kocharian and Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian, whose presidential election win he now refuses to recognize.
Ter-Petrosian accuses the Karabakh Clan, as his supporters have dubbed
them, of widespread corruption and nepotism, including signing over
control of crucial economic sectors to Russia, thereby transforming
a long-time alliance into a "vassal-sovereign" relationship.
Coming three weeks after Kosovo's declaration of independence from
Serbia, Russia and the United States fear escalating tensions in the
region and have called for restraint.
The mountainous Caucasus region where Nagarno-Karabakh lies has
emerged as strategically important as it lies along gas routes from
the energy-rich Caspian Sea region to Europe.
Western powers fear further instability could disrupt gas routes and
further undermine a fragile security situation in the neighbourhood,
which is host to a Russian military base and borders Iran.
The United States and NATO declared Thursday that Kosovo's independence
from Serbia could not serve as a precedence for Nagarno- Karabakh or
any other region.
Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region on Wednesday asked for
the European Union, the United Nations and Russia to recognize its
independence, bearing out Russia's claim that Kosovo's independence
would lead to a "parade of sovereignty" in the Caucasus.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev firmly rejects Kosovo's independence
as illegal and has upped rhetoric about using any means to achieve
unity ahead of October presidential elections.
"We have been buying military machinery, airplanes and ammunition to
be ready to liberate the occupied territories, and we are ready to
do this," Russian newspaper Noviye Izvestia quoted Aliyev as saying
on Thursday.
"The conflict will come to an international solution when Armenia
feels Azerbaijan's force," he said.
Oil-rich Azerbaijan has increased its military spending to more than
1 billion dollars in 2008, provoking a mini-arms race with Armenia,
which in turn has hiked its military spending by 20 per cent in the
past year.
Thomas Gomart, head of the Russian/CIS programme at the Paris- based
Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, voiced concern over
the "evolution of the rhetoric" in a recent interview with Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa.
"The disproportion in the two countries' military spending is
worrying. Azerbaijan's expenditure could be compared to the total
Armenian budget," he said.
bservers also fear that Armenia's post-election instability could
aggravate relations with Turkey which has allied with fellow Muslim
state Azerbaijan to blockade landlocked Armenia along its borders.
Ter-Petrosian, who was forced from power by the current leadership in
1998 for his proposal to compromise in peace talks with Azerbaijan,
has argued the blockades are killing Armenia's possibilities for
growth. "Russia cannot be Armenia's only road to the outside world,"
he has said.
But a construction boom and a healthy economy spoke in favour of
the established leadership in the recent elections, and despite
rallying thousand-strong opposition protests Ter-Petrosian remains
widely unpopular among those who recall the economic hardships of
the post-Soviet transition.
Nagarno-Karabakh native and war hero Sarkisian is expected to keep
up the hawkish stance set by his political mentor Kocharian during
his decade at the helm, perpetuating fears of a new war along the
border where gunfire breaks out regularly.
Catholicos Broadcasts to the Nation
Back to the OSCE Report
ARMENIAN ELECTION UPDATE: OSCE ISSUES POST-ELECTION INTERIM REPORT
On Thursday, March 6, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) released a Post-Election Interim Report. The report encompasses the events and post-election monitoring processes, ranging from February 20 - March 3. Earlier this week, the Armenian Assembly of America issued a statement calling upon "all parties to adhere to the rule of law and to refrain from violence, as well as to ensure that the media will cover the events as they take place with fairness and balance." Armenia's Constitutional Court is expected to issue a decision on the election outcome this weekend. The Assembly has urged "that the independence of the judicial process be upheld and that the integrity of the [Constitutional] Court be maintained for the good of the Armenian people." To view the report as well as complete election and post-election updates, visit the Armenian Assembly's homepage. Below is the summary from the nine page report. To view the full report please click here. SUMMARY - During the post-election period, the main broadcast media, including public television and radio, provided extensive coverage of the views of the authorities but rarely aired the views of those who raised concerns regarding the conduct of the 19 February poll; - The OSCE/ODIHR EOM (Election Observation Mission) received information that complaints had not been accepted by PECs (Precinct Election Commissions) on election day. In the post election period, the CEC (Central Election Commission)received several complaints; its handling of these did not provide complainants with an effective remedy and raises concern about its commitment to ensure the protection of citizens' electoral rights;
- Results data published for all PECs on the CEC website revealed some anomalies at specific PECs, including implausibly high voter turnout; results for Mr. Sargsyan in excess of 99 percent of the vote; and a very high incidence of invalid ballots in some PECs, especially in Yerevan;
- Results from 135 PECs were recounted by Territorial Election Commissions (TECs). OSCE/ODIHR observers noted shortcomings in the recount process, including discrepancies and mistakes, some of which raise questions over the impartiality of the PECs and TECs concerned;
- On 20 February, the CEC announced preliminary results indicating that Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan had won the election. The second placed candidate, Levon Ter-Petrossian, made accusations of widespread election falsification and claimed that he had won the election; - Demonstrations against the conduct of the election were held repeatedly and remained peaceful until 1 March when police dispersed the demonstrators. Subsequent clashes between demonstrators and the police and military turned violent resulting in fatalities and injuries, and President Kocharian declared a state of emergency. On 26 February, Serzh Sargsyan offered to collaborate with the other presidential candidates; - On 24 February, the CEC declared that Mr. Sargsyan had won the election with 52.8 per cent of the vote; Mr. Ter-Petrossian received 21.5 per cent and Arthur Baghdasaryan 16.7 percent. Two of the eight CEC members did not sign the official protocol of results.
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