Armenian officials, opposition reps register no irregularities in voting
Sources:
Mediamax, Yerevan
12 May 07
Arminfo, Yerevan
12 May 07
Armenian officials and opposition leaders are still unanimous that no
irregularities have been recorded in the voting process so far.
Armenia’s Police Chief Hayk Harutyunyan has told Arminfo that all
reports that they have received so far about violations in voting have
turned out to be false.
Speaker Tigran Torosyan said that voting is going on normally.
"The election process has been going on normally so far. I hope that
the situation will remain calm in next 10 hours that are left till the
end of voting," Arminfo quoted Torosyan as saying at a polling station
where he cast his vote. He described the election as a test of
democracy and dignity.
"I hope that we will pass this test because neither our country nor our
nation deserve the international community’s negative appraisals. The
Armenian state is 16 year old. The time has come to prove to the
international community that we are not inferior to any other Council
of Europe member state," Torosyan said.
For their part, opposition representatives have said that no
irregularities have been recorded so far.
Stepan Demirchyan, leader of the opposition People’s Party of Armenia,
told reporters that the party is keeping up with the voting. "Although
there have not been alarming signals so far, we will carefully watch
the voting process, record and assess violations," Mediamax quoted
Demirchyan as saying.
Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovhannisyan said that they were collecting
reports on irregularities in voting at the party’s information centre.
"We will speak about irregularities in voting on the basis of verified
reports that are being collected at the party’s information centre. If
our votes are rigged, our position will be appropriate," Arminfo quoted
him as saying. He said that the party will make public its assessment
of the election’s legitimacy the day after the voting.