Excerpt from report by Armenian news agency Snark

Yerevan, 25th October: Yerevan voters turned out to be the most
passive in the 24th October elections to Armenia's
self-government bodies, Armenui Zograbyan, secretary of the
Armenian Central Electoral Commission, told our Snark news
agency correspondent today. She said that only 20 per cent of
the population of the country's capital turned out to vote in
yesterday's polls. To compare, she cited figures from other
regions of the country, where voters were much more active, e.g
. 60 per cent turned out to vote in Vayots Dzor and 57 per cent
in Syunik. On average, 25 per cent of the population turned out
to vote in the 24th October elections to local self-government
bodies in the whole of Armenia.

Zograbyan said almost all the polling stations of the
republic opened and began receiving voters on Sunday at 0800
[0300 gmt] on the dot. The only exception was the Oganavan
electoral precinct of the Aragatsotn commune, where the local
electoral commission found out that the stamp was contaminated
by ink (there was no spare stamp at the polling station). After
a short sitting, the Central Electoral Commission [CEC] made a
decision to postpone the elections in Oganavan, keeping the
authority of the previous self-government bodies. Zograbyan
also said that the same situation had come about in several
polling stations of Yerevan's Centre commune, where members of
the local electoral commission suspected that the stamps of the
polling station had already been used. After a short sitting
and consultations with the CEC, it was decided to change the
colour of the ink into which the stamps were dipped from green
to red.

Zograbyan pointed out that there were no incidents in the
24th October polls, but there were still some misunderstandings
connected to the incorrect compilation of voters' lists.
[Passage omitted: Minor incidents and misunderstandings]
In 69 electoral precincts of Armenia, where more than 50
per cent of the population are refugees, the elections to local
self-government bodies were put off indefinitely in connection
with the 18th October decree by Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan. However, Zograbyan said that the CEC had received
information that on election day there were cases when refugees
moved to Armenian regions where they form less than 50 per cent
of the population with the aim of participating in the
elections.

In spite of all the aforementioned misunderstandings,
Zograbyan said that the elections passed off calmly without any
incidents. The 24th October elections to local self-government
bodies were monitored by 12 observers from the Council of
Europe and OSCE, as well as several groups of UN observers.
About 10,000 Interior Ministry employees and servicemen were on
duty at 1,589 polling stations in Armenia. The Armenian
government allocated 15m drams (about 30,000 US dollars) for
the conduct of the elections. Late in the evening on 25th
October, the CEC and regional electoral commissions will
already be able to announce the preliminary results of the
elections.

The final results of the elections to local
self-government bodies will be known on Tuesday afternoon, 26th
October.

Source: Snark news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 0714 gmt 25 Oct