OBSERVING DEMOCRACY IN ACTION
Tess Hughes
The Mayo News
Thursday, 03 May 2007
ARMENIA is a landlocked country in the Caucasus, between the Black and
the Caspian Seas. It has four neighbours: Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan
and Georgia. It has a good relationship with Georgia and Iran but
this is not so with Turkey and Azerbaijan. In both cases there is
ongoing hostility dating back centuries.
The modern Republic of Armenia is only a minor part of ancient Armenian
lands, and comprises territories annexed to the Russian empire in
the nineteenth century and later incorporated into the Soviet Union
as the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.
There are formerly Armenian lands – and surviving Armenian communities
– in Southern Georgia and northern Iran, but the major part of ancient
Armenia lies in Northern Turkey. It is there that much of the worldwide
Armenian diaspora has its family roots.
Armenia has a large and powerful diaspora. Almost all the development
in the country in the past ten years is attributable to it.
Mount Ararat, national symbol of Armenia and the mountain on which
Noah’s Ark from the Biblical story, The Flood, is said to have rested,
looms on a clear day over Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, and is
now in Turkish territory. This is a very sore point with the Armenians.
In 1991, when the Soviet Union was falling apart, Armenia held a
referendum on independence. Ninety-four per cent of the population
voted for independence. Independence was declared. It was accompanied
by tragedy and conflict with its neighbours. Thus began the modern
Republic of Armenia.
When people here speak of ‘the war’ they are referring to the war
of 1992-1994 which erupted after they declared independence. It is
often mentioned in conversation and signs of the devastation caused
during that time are everywhere to be seen. A constitution was adopted
in 1995.
There is an added complication, which is that there is a region
within Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh which wants independent status as
a republic in its own right. This area is not taking part in these
elections. In Nagorno-Karabakh about 50 per cent of the people are of
Armenian origin and want to be part of Armenia. The other 50 per cent
are Azerbaijani in origin and want to be part of Azerbaijan. At present
it is an independent state. This is the major conflict with Azerbaijan.
It adds spice to this dispute, the fact that the President of Armenia,
Robert Kocharyan is from the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The major issue with Turkey is because they have annexed parts of
traditionally held Armenian lands. Because of this the border into
Turkey is now closed.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, is the
organisation for which I work. It is a transatlantic intergovernmental
organisation with 55 participating states that spans the broader
European region (including the South Caucasus and Central Asia and
includes Canada and the United States and of course Armenia).
The main job of OSCE is in the areas of conflict prevention, crisis
management and post-conflict rehabilitation. This includes having
an election observation programme to ensure fairness and full
participation in all elections.
We are in Armenia at the invitation of the ruling Armenian
government. It is part of their way of preparing for eventual entry
into the European Union.
Most, if not all, the countries of Eastern Europe want to join with
Western Europe and to enjoy what they perceive as the better lifestyle
of the western countries.
Indeed there is a vast difference between lives here in Armenia and
anywhere in the West. Poverty, depression, neglect of the natural
environment and buildings, and so on, is appallingly obvious
everywhere.
There is a population of around three million here, with around one
million living in Yerevan, the capital. The population is falling
since the war due to emigration.
The General Election is scheduled to take place on May 12 next. This
election consists of two parallel contests, one for 90 seats to
be filled by a proportional representation system on the basis of
national party/bloc lists and the other for 41 constituency seats
which will be filled by a majoritarian system.
The ruling government is a coalition of the Armenian Republican Party
(by far the largest party) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
There are 28 parties/blocs contesting this election, but in general,
personalities of individual politicians dominate the political
landscape in Armenia more than party platforms.
Campaigning is under way officially since April 8, but everyone is
talking about it and preparing for it.
Two days after I arrived here the Prime Minister died unexpectedly.
No one can yet predict how this will affect the elections but it is
causing a lot of discussion both in the media and amongst the people.
He seems to have been quite well liked throughout the country. He was
replaced by the Minister for Defence. In the region I am working in,
Syunik, this does not appear to be a popular decision.
OSCE have 14 teams of two people in place, working as long-term
election observers. These consist of 22 international observers and
six Armenians. We have been posted all over the country. I have been
posted to the most southern region, close to the Iranian border and
Nagorno-Karabakh. I am with a German man who is a highly experienced
election observer in the Balkans. Each team has been set up with an
interpreter and a driver from the region to which they are posted.
In the week before the election 300 short-term observers will be
brought in from the OSCE countries. I expect there will be three or
four Irish among them. I am already looking forward to seeing them.
These elections will also be observed by trained non-government agency
personnel already working in the country and by local agencies with
an interest in human rights issues and democracy.
Our job is to locate all the polling stations in our area, to call on
all the local officials to make them aware that there is an election
observation mission in the area, to prepare for the arrival of the
short-term observers, and to report back to the head office of OSCE in
Yerevan on what we have observed in relation to adherence to electoral
rules, and any incidents related to the election that we see, and to
monitor media coverage of the election in our area.
In our area this is not easy. The roads are in very poor condition.
Many of the polling stations are up in the mountains. We will most
likely need a four-wheel drive vehicle to access them, if we can
find one.
Almost once a week we also have to return to Yerevan to make interim
reports. It is an arduous seven-hour journey on a bad road.
Finding accommodation in these outlying villages will be challenging.
There is no tourist industry of any kind here. There are no tourists.
The only other foreign people to visit these parts are associated with
the mining industry. They build houses for their staff. There is a
copper-zinc-silver mine close to Kapan, the town I am in. There is
also a huge molybdenum/copper mine on the other side of town. Both
mines are owned by foreigners. All the executive and administrative
employees are also foreigners. Local men work in the mines. It is
the only employment in the region.
The food is good. The people are very hospitable and interested in
meeting someone from Ireland. They are quick to take out an atlas
and locate Ireland. Internet access is surprisingly good. Everyone,
it seems, has mobile phones.
The ruling party, which is by far the strongest party, the Republican
Party, are very strong and confident of their success in the
election. They dominate the media and everything else.
The opposition parties – and there are more than 20 of them – all talk
about the corruption and bribery they see in government. A number of
government deputies resigned or changed party allegiance during the
last government in protest at the corruption they witnessed. Opposition
parties claim that the media and the legal system serve only the
ruling government and because of this they feel despair at bringing
about change. They tell us that on the day of election everything will
appear to be above board. They all use the terms ‘fair and transparent
elections’. But the opposition parties all assure us that it will be
very difficult for us observers to see the abuses that are happening
behind closed doors. We have been told that even when they know
for sure that falsifications have happened at the polling stations,
they have been unable to prove it in court.
There have been some shootings and explosions in opposition party
offices, though fortunately not my area.