U.S. expresses concern over Armenia’s presidential vote count

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) — The United States expressed concern on Wednesday over alleged report of problems in the vote count in Armenia’s presidential election.

A report by election observers led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) called the election “mostly in line with international standards,” according to State Department official Edgar Vazquez.

However, “We are concerned by some elements of the report, including a description of the vote-count as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’” in 15 percent of the polling stations observed by the OSCE-led overseers, Vazquez said.

Vazquez also called on all parties in the country to remain peaceful and refrain from violence.

Vazquez made the comments after the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Armenia announced Wednesday that Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan won the presidential election by securing 52.86 percent of ballots in preliminary results from all 1923 polling stations.

Good luck to them because these points really need to be addressed rather than the tiring tendency of holding only demonstrations attended by an insignificant number of people until nothing changes and eventually people give up and go home.

In my opinion, using the legal mechanisms available to them, scoring some successes while losing as well, is crucial in the development of democracy in Armenia. Of course, nobody ever said it was going to be easy, but if allegations are made, they have to be backed up by proof.

ELECTIONS ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE DAY OF VOTING”, HEAD OF OSCE LONG-TERM OBSERVATION MISSION IN ARMENIA STRESSED

Mediamax
February 20, 2008

[…]

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a news conference in Yerevan today, Geert Ahrens stressed that “the elections are not limited to the day of voting”. He stressed that the long-term observers from OSCE/ODIHR will be attentively following the investigation of the criminal cases, initiated in connection with the electoral violations, as well as the consideration of complaints, presented by the presidential candidates and their staffs.

[…]

The Head of PACE Observation Group, British MP John Prescott stated that the observers may not base on the violation statements, which do not have factual evidence and proofs. Geert Ahrens agreed: “we cannot reproduce statements, evidence of which we do not have”.

http://www.elections2008.am/Default.aspx?news_id=336

The need to present evidence is vital given concerns at the tendency for political groups in Armenia to allege anything and everything, sometimes without cause or good reason. Besides, the OSCE-ODIHR did identify cases of violence, intimidation, falsification, but to argue that there were other cases needs evidence.

Until then, unless IYC can present more information, why should anyone not believe that the following from the OSCE report is not true? That is, that the violations were less than in 2003.

On election day, the conduct of opening and voting was assessed in positive terms in a large majority of polling stations (PS) visited. Polling was conducted in a relatively calm atmosphere, although tension or unrest were noted in some 6 per cent of PSs visited, which on occasion resulted in violent incidents. Unauthorized persons were noted in over 10 per cent of PSs visited. In some 3 per cent of PSs visited, interference in the election process was noted, mostly by candidate proxies.

The secrecy of the vote was improved but further progress is required especially for military voting. Although declining, group voting remained a problem. In isolated cases, serious problems were noted, including: campaigning, attempts to influence voters’ choices, intimidation of voters, ‘controlled voting’, vote-buying, and transportation of voters from one PS to another. Formal complaints were filed in very few PSs visited.

The count was assessed as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ in some 16 per cent of PSs visited. Problems noted included: not announcing aloud the number of votes for each candidate, inconsistent determination of valid votes, the use of mobile phones, and the frequent failure to post results protocols publicly. In several PSs visited, IEOM observers reported deliberate falsification of data entered into the protocol.

If evidence exists that violations occurred in more polling stations, the opposition and civil society needs to prevent evidence of that to the OSCE as well as use the courts to overturn the count in those precincts. For sure, from my own experience yesterday, there were many video cameras around. Otherwise, it just one politically-partisan word against another.