Armenia: Yerevan Vote Is Déjà Vu All Over Again

Armenians appear headed for another round of election-related acrimony following a contentious Yerevan Council Election on May 31. As in recent national elections, official results favored the governing Republican Party of Armenia by a wide margin. Opposition supporters complained bitterly about irregularities, but, as in the past, international observers offered only cautious criticism.

The vote marked the first time a Yerevan mayor was determined on the basis of the City Council election results, rather than by presidential appointment. With that significance in mind, media presented the election as a second chance for the political comeback of ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosian, the lead candidate for the Armenian National Congress (ANC), after his defeat in the 2008 presidential elections. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

But, based on preliminary official results, Ter-Petrosian's comeback stalled almost as soon as it began. The Republican Party secured more than 46 percent of the ballots cast, easily enough to ensure that its top council candidate -- incumbent mayor Gagik Beglarian -- would retain his post.

Government coalition member Prosperous Armenia, a deep-pocketed contender headed by oligarch Gagik Tsarukian, garnered roughly 22 percent of the vote, while the opposition Armenian National Congress, headed by former president Ter-Petrosian, finished a distant third, with some 17 percent of the vote.

The Rule of Law Party, a government coalition member, and the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation failed to make the cut for seats in the 65-member city council. Turnout was placed at 52.85 percent of Yerevan's 771,477 eligible voters.

To protest the results, Ter-Petrosian announced a rally in central Yerevan for the evening of June 1. The former Armenian president declined to field reporters' questions on election day, however, and has not released a statement. In a May 31 press conference, senior ANC member Levon Zurabian charged that the government would focus on falsifying the vote count.

It would seem that even some government agencies see the possibility of wrongdoing. According to a report distributed by the Interfax news agency, the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office has called for a recount in eight voting precincts. Prosecutor General Agvan Hovsepyan indicated that his office may open a criminal investigation.

Even so, in an apparent warning to Ter-Petrosian supporters, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian underlined the need for Armenian politicians to learn how to "have the courage to accept defeat gracefully."

"These are . . . partly mayoral elections," commented independent political analyst Yervand Bozoian. "It's a [national] political struggle, in fact."

And like the 2008 presidential elections, it was a struggle that occurred amid accusations of electoral skulduggery.

The opposition Heritage Party's representative to the Central Election Commission refused to sign the final vote protocol as a result of what she termed "large-scale election fraud." "Signing the document would mean concluding a bargain with the authorities," Zoya. Tadevosian said, A1plus.am news site reported.

Attacks against journalists headlined the list of complaints. At least five such cases were reported by the end of voting on May 31. Ballot-box stuffing, transportation of out-of-town voters to Yerevan, polling-station scuffles, vote buying, and the expulsion of observers from polling stations were among other reported abuses.

Gohar Vezirian, a reporter for the pro-opposition Chorrord Ishkhanutiun newspaper, told EurasiaNet that she was beaten and verbally abused by supporters of Mayor Beglarian after complaining to one polling station commission chairman about the "intrusion" of a Republican Party MP and "three dozen supporters." She declined, however, to file a police report.

Representatives of Transparency International and the Helsinki Human Rights Assembly of Armenia both declared the conduct of the vote "terrible."

Helsinki Assembly observer Artur Sakunts, who monitored the voting in polling station No. 9 in Yerevan's Malatia-Sebastia District, asserted that vote falsification surpassed levels for any election he had observed in the past decade. "Cases of [ballot box] stuffing have been witnessed everywhere. They bring people by cars . . . they tried to find reasons to have us leave the station several times to try to make falsifications," Sakunts claimed.

Central Election Commission representatives were not immediately available to respond to the specific observer allegations. One hour after polling stations closed on May 31, however, CEC Chairman Garegin Azarian claimed that most of the violation reports "did not correspond with reality."

"We have gotten alarmed calls as well, but not all of them are confirmed," Azarian stated on Armenian Public Television.

Some 5,635 local observers and the Council of Europe's Congress of Regional and Local Authorities monitored the vote. At a June 1 news conference, the 15 Council of Europe observers noted the occurrence of "some shortcomings." But the observers added that the vote was "largely conducted in compliance with European standards."

Voter reactions ran the gamut. Arevhat Mkrtchian, an 80-something voter in Malatia-Sebastia district, affirmed that Armenians need "to believe in the country's rulers." Hairdresser Inessa Gharibian, however, weary of opposition-government jousting, said that she had decided not to vote. "The outcome of elections in this country is pre-determined," she said.

Republican Party spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov took a pragmatic view, echoing official statements that the vote is "a step forward on the road to democracy."

"We need to realize there can't be ideal elections in a country that gained independence only 18 years ago," Sharmazanov said.