Election Day Ends
It’s now nearly two in the morning and it’s been a tiring day. However, while report after report of violations and falsification comes in, in the seven polling stations I visited today in the Kentron and Arabkir districts of the city, voting was pretty much calm. That’s not to say that violations didn’t occur elsewhere, or even that all was perfect in these particular polling stations, but rather that the environment for voting was peaceful.
Probably the worst violation I saw, although I’m not sure it goes against the electoral code or not, was a number of mothers allowing their children to vote for them. Otherwise, the main problems were pretty much what I’ve described already. Namely that means most PEC members, proxies and observers not wearing identification badges, the inability of voters to queue properly, the PEC’s apparent lack of concern with keeping some order in their polling stations, and the absence of a parallel voter count in all but two cases.
That is not to diminish the necessity of investigating allegations of serious voting irregularities elsewhere, of course, but more to simply assess the situation in the seven polling stations I visited. Personally speaking, the lack of clearly identified authorized persons in polling stations was the most serious issue I encountered. Otherwise, proxies were videoing voting even if in some of the most drearily lit stations they had to set up their own lighting.
Indeed, perhaps the main issue that today raised was just how bad conditions are in schools even in the very center of Yerevan. Only in one polling station –10/20 — did the Chairperson of the Precinct Electoral Commission (PEC) attempt to stop me entering and photographing the vote on the basis that I did not have a passport with me. In fact, I don’t need one and my journalist ID was enough so I stood my ground, cited my presence in the same polling station last year without a passport, and she backed down.
In most, but not all precincts, voting booths had their backs to PEC members thus helping facilitate a more private vote, and while police did pass through, it didn’t strike me as anything suspicious. Indeed, at one polling station, the police very obviously were preventing unauthorized groups of men hanging around outside. Otherwise, the seven polling stations seemed quite liberal and relaxed. Indeed, the spirit was more jovial than oppressive despite the appalling state of Yerevan’s schools.
Once again, however, I have to reserve judgment until the vote results and voter turnout is officially confirmed and domestic as well as international observers issue their respective statements on the conduct of the election. For now however, I do have to say that the vote seemed less well organized than that for last year’s parliamentary election. While the polling stations I visited were calm and not chaotic, they were less well organized and administered than last May.
Photos: © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
- Published:
- 02.20.08 / 3am by Onnik
- Category:
- 2007 Parliamentary Election, Armenia, Armenia Presidential Election 2008, Election Day, Electoral Commissions, Photojournalism, Voting
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