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ARMENIA DAILY DIGEST
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From: Ina Iankulova (iiankulova@sorosny.org)
Date: Tue Apr 22 2003 - 13:33:09 EDT
ARMENIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CHAIRMAN REJECTS CRITICISM OF ELECTION RULING
Gagik Harutiunian told journalists in Yerevan on 18 April that criticism by the pro-presidential media of the court's 16 April statement on the outcome of the February-March presidential election is misplaced, Noyan Tapan and RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. That statement rejected the appeal by defeated presidential candidate Stepan Demirchian to annul the vote on the grounds of procedural and constitutional violations. But at the same time it acknowledged that official returns from some 40 constituencies across Armenia are "not credible" due to ballot-box stuffing and other irregularities, and recommended holding a "referendum of confidence" in the country's leadership within the next 12 months (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 April 2003). Harutiunian denied that the proposed referendum of confidence implies doubts that the election was legitimate. He explained that such a referendum is one of several initiatives proposed last year by the Council of Europe to resolve a standoff between the authorities and the p
ublic, Noyan Tapan reported. LF
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