MONITORING REPORTS PROVIDE DETAILS ON ELECTION VIOLATIONS IN ARMENIA
2/27/03

Reports prepared by an election monitoring group in Armenia detail widespread violations during all phases of the country’s first-round of presidential election. The reports question the impartiality of those entrusted with overseeing the balloting, thus raising concern about the legitimacy of the upcoming March 5 run-off between incumbent President Robert Kocharian and Stepan Demirchian.

The two reports – prepared by It’s Your Choice (IYC), a non-partisan, non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting civil society – focus both on the campaign period and the February 19 election itself. Using about 4,000 volunteers, IYC began its monitoring activities in October 2002, long before the opening of the official campaign.

The NGO recorded numerous violations during the campaign, the overwhelming majority of them committed by Kocharian supporters. It called special attention to the mobilization of administrative resources to work on the president’s behalf. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The report cited instances in which elected local officials pressured their constituents to vote for Kocharian.

In addition, IYC characterized mass media coverage of the campaign as biased "both quantitatively and qualitatively" in favor of the incumbent. "This unfair coverage occurred especially on state-controlled media [television], the prime source of broadcast information for citizens," the report noted. During one 10-day monitoring period of Public TV, the report said, Kocharian received over 40 percent of the campaign coverage. The other eight candidates split the remaining coverage, with Artashes Geghamian – the third place finisher in the presidential election – receiving the most coverage among challengers at 21 percent.

In a separate report, released two days after the election, IYC found the administration of the balloting to be haphazard, and in many instances violations and oversights appeared designed to boost the number of votes cast for Kocharian. "In general, PECs [Precinct Election Commissions] purposefully did not fulfill their legal responsibilities," the report said.

To monitor the election, IYC deployed 1,400 observers at 700 voting precincts throughout Armenia. Among the more serious breaches of electoral procedure recorded by IYC monitors were improper electioneering, ballot-box stuffing, fraudulent tabulation practices and the intimidation of monitors and mass media representatives.

In one of the more egregious cases of voting fraud witnessed by IYC monitors, the report alleges that Hrach Abgarian, mayor of the town of Vagharshapat, along with a member of the country’s parliament, Hakob Hakobian, organized the stuffing of ballot boxes in all of the town’s voting precincts.

"This [the ballot-box stuffing] took place in the presence of the PEC chairmen, and [PEC] members, proxies, observers, voting military personnel and voters who were present in the precinct at the moment," the report said. "Although observers notified [precinct election] commission chairmen and members regarding their observation, the ballot stuffing in Vagharshapat precincts … and others was not prevented."

In a separate statement, a media monitoring effort by the Yerevan Press Club, covering the February 18-19 period, concluded that most television and radio outlets, along with newspapers, largely adhered to rules barring campaign coverage. "The media in general displayed respect for the legislative ban on promotion and political advertising on ballot day and the day prior to it," the press club commentary said.

The IYC election report also noted that authorities avoided engaging in fraudulent activity in front of foreign election monitors. "With the presence of international observers, commission members and unauthorized individuals avoided illegal activity," the report stated. "However, violations were openly committed in the presence of proxies and domestic observers when international observers were absent."

The report concludes that the "impartiality of PECs is questionable and so is their guarantee of the legitimate administration of elections." It urges Kocharian to exercise the political will to restrain his supporters, and to improve the atmosphere for a free and fair run-off election. "The absence of that political will is a concern, a concern that grows due to the upcoming election [March 5]."

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Posted February 27, 2003 © Eurasianet
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