HUNDREDS PROTEST ‘RIGGED’ VOTE IN ARMENIAN TOWN
By Irina Hovannisian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 17 2007

Hundreds of people rallied in a small Armenian town for a second
consecutive day on Thursday in protest against serious fraud which
they said decided the outcome of a parliamentary election held in
their constituency.

The protesters were supporters of Talin’s Mayor Mnatsakan
Mnatsakanian who ran for parliament in the local single-mandate
electoral district as an independent and was narrowly defeated
by his main rival representing the governing Republican Party of
Armenia (HHK). According to the district election commission, the
HHK candidate, Khachik Manukian, won by a margin of 162 votes.

Mnatsakanian refused to concede defeat, demanding a vote recount in
three local villages where Manukian’s supporters allegedly stuffed
ballots and resorted to other irregularities. Recounting of ballots
cast in those villages on the party list basis exposed major violations
that benefited the HHK and the pro-presidential Prosperous Armenia
(BHK).

The refusal by the district commission to recount ballots cast for
individual candidates as well sparked angry street protests in Talin
late Wednesday. Dozens of baton-wielding police, reinforced by special
security forces sent from Yerevan, were deployed the next day in and
outside the main local government building, which also houses the
election body.

The unusually strong police presence only added to the protesters’
fury. "Why are they holding truncheons?" said on one of them. "To
beat the people? They only prove that this is a dictatorship. Will
the people be wrong to mount an uprising after this?"

In the meantime, Mnatsakanian’s proxies tried in vain to get the
commission chairman, Hovannes Asatrian, to call an emergency meeting
of the body and consider their demand backed by four of its nine
members. Asatrian told RFE/RL that he is delaying the meeting for
lack of a quorum, which is not required by Armenia’s recently amended
Election Code.

"There is quorum," countered another commission member. "All commission
members are in the building."

Mnatsakanian then unexpectedly withdrew his demand after consulting
with his HHK-affiliated deputy Gabriel Avetisian behind the closed
doors. The mayor declined a comment, while Avetisian claimed that the
defeated candidate gave up because of a legal deadline for recounting
which expired an hour later. He denied that the Talin mayor, whose
rival was personally endorsed by Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian,
faced pressure from Yerevan.

In spite of that, the angry crowd which waited outside the building
did not immediately disperse. "We are thinking about ourselves,
not about Mnatsakanian," explained one man. "Our votes were stolen."

"The people of Talin must not participate in the [2008] presidential
elections," said another.

Many of the protesters agreed.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress