In Armenian

On May12, 2007 more than two million people had a responsibility and right to elect deputies to the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. One million and 300 thousand voters participated in the elections. The bulletins contained twenty two parties and one accord, which competed on the proportional list for 90 seats of the National Assembly. The rest 41 seats were allocated for candidates to be elected from 41 regions of Armenia. The Central Electoral Commission on May 13, 2007 published preliminary results of the elections, according to which the five- percent barrier was passed by the following five political parties: the Republican Party, Bargavatch Hayastan (Prosperous Armenia), Dashnaktsutyun, Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law), and Zharangutyun (Heritage). On the same day, many political parties, including Orinats Yerkir and Zharangutyun, announced that there were significant election violations which impacted the results of the elections.

Lragir Internet newspaper ([url=http://www.lragir.am target=_blank]www.lragir.am[/url]) writes that “On May 13, 2007, around 5 pm, the Central Electoral Commission of the RA signed the statement on the preliminary results of elections of the RA National Assembly of May 12, 2007. Only six of the nine CEC members signed the statement. Representatives of political parties National Unity, Orinats Yerkir and People’s Party of Armenia did not sign it”. Before this, on May 12th, the election headquarters of almost all oppositional parties released information on legal violations in various precinct stations.

For example, the press release of the Nor Zhamanakner party mentions: “In the precinct station 5/16, the head of the communal service of the Davitashen district municipality offended the proxy of Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, threatening him to break his head if he complains about election violations. This accident was witnessed by Gary Hakobyan, the proxy the Nor Zhamanakner/ New Times Party (NTP). Ordinary voters of the Goght village informed the election quarter of the NTP that the United Labor Party, the Prosperous Armenia and the Republican Party were giving election bribes to voters. In Bagratashen village, the bribes amounted in 15000Drams were given by the representative of the Republican party Shirvanyan Sultanik, who stood just near the precinct station.

The headquarter of the Orinats Yerkir informed that “at 18:20, in the 21st district station (in the House of Culture) of the village Hoktember, the ballot stuffing continued, the election commission members were threatened and the commission stopped working. Also, in the precincts 15/16- village Gatashen, 15/15- village Bergashat, 21/20 village Aygevan of the same district, the ballot stuffing and commission member threatening continued, and the commission members described the situation as impossible to work in. They tried to prevent the mass ballot stuffing but did not succeed. The commission members were going to stop working and boycott the elections”

During the 12th of May, there were many such calls received. Nevertheless, the Central Electoral Commission was rejecting all calls, saying that they did not correspond to the reality. The same position was taken by the ruling Republican party headquarter, which informed that the election process was going without any flaws. At the same time, there was an information about clashes among the representatives of the Republican Party, Prosperous Armenia and Dashnaktsutyun in various precincts. The New Times Party informed that in the Erebuni community of Yerevan there was a fight, in which the community administration leader Mher Sedrakyan bet a representative of Bargavatch Hayastan, after which Gagik Tsarukyan also intervened into the accident. Bargavatshc Hayastan rejected the information on participation of its leader, Gagik Tsarukyan, but accepted that there was a clash between representatives of the Republican Party and Prosperous Armenia party, in which the leader of the Erebuni district administration did not participate. The media sources of the Dashnaktsutyun party, particularly, its TV station Erkir Media, the information that representatives of Dashnaktsutyun and Prosperous Armenia have beaten Rouben Hayrapetyan (nickname Nemets Rubo), the council member of the Republican Party, who tried to intervene into the voting process. This information was rejected by Rouben Hayrapetyan.

The preliminary report of observation missions of OSCE/ODIHR, PACE and CoE, released on the May 13, 2007, at 14:30 says that “The May 12, 2007 Parliamentary elections of the Republic of Armenia demonstrated improvement and were conducted in accordance to responsibilities taken in front of the OSCE and CoE and to other international standards”. However, the western observers mentioned that their mission continues until the official end of the electoral process, including the process of discussion of complaints. In the morning of the same day, the group of NIS observers presented their evaluation, in which they mentioned the quiet atmosphere of the voting process and its accordance to the legislation of the Electoral Code of Armenia. They indicated that the government of Armenia ensured that all the candidates and political parties had access to observe the voting process, that the elections were organized better than in 2003 and that the electoral code was greatly improved since then.

On May 13th, Orinats Yerkir announced that it starts judicial processing of complaints regarding voting results. The General Prosecutor’s office also announced that it received 10 complaints on crimes occurred during elections. Also, some candidates presented complaints which while investigated did not prove to reflect the reality. On the bases of the complaints, the General Prosecutor’s office opened 9 criminal cases, on which they would provide further information.

In the evening of May 13, 2007, the Impeachment accord, the New Times and the Republic parties organized a post-election demonstration, which was joined by the Armenian People Party and Social-Democratic Hnchakyan Party. These political forces announced that they would fight until the election results are annulled and called all political forces to join them.

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