David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
On May 12 the Central Election Committee of Armenia summed up the final results of the elections to the Council of the Elders of Yerevan on May 5th. The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) got 42 seats in the Council of Elders, which consists of 65 people; Prosperous Armenia 17, the bloc “Hello, Yerevan!” – 6. The proportional list of republicans was headed by the current mayor Taron Markaryan, and he will continue governing Yerevan for the next 4 years.
The losing parties have already voiced their accusations of falsification to the authorities. Dashnaktsutyun said that identification of the state and the ruling party, infinite usage of an administrative resource, and bribes took their toll. The same view was expressed by Levon Zurabyan who headed the list of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) in the elections. He noted serious falsifications, while the candidate of the bloc “Hello, Yerevan!”, Stepan Safaryan, stated that the voting turnout (53.53%) was a mechanism of stealing votes by the ruling party.
After the elections the police received 143 signals on violations. Transparency International observers sent 80 complaints to district election committees of Yerevan. However, almost all of them were dismissed because the head of the Central Election Committee, Tigran Mukuchyan, believed only one complaint out of 80 was sent to the CEC according to the rules. Recount of votes in a hundred of election ballot stations didn’t change the situation. According to the representative of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the Council of Europe, Stuart Dickson, members of the delegation provided monitoring of 100 ballot stations and witnessed the pressure which was put on voters. In this context, Dickson urged the Armenian authorities “to dispel the atmosphere of fear and money, which established in the elections.”
Nevertheless, after the victory in the parliamentary, presidential, and the Council of the Elders elections the republicans secured power monopoly to themselves. This result was achieved due to the administrative apparatus, pressing on voters, bribes, behind-the-scene deals between the participants of the elections. Such “firm” victories more and more marginalize the republicans and the level of marginalization of the ruling party is equal to an amount of votes gained by them in elections. The middle class, minor and medium business more and more turn away from the leadership.
To be continued
