ARMENIAN OPPOSITION URGES COURT TO DECLARE ELECTION RESULTS INVALID

Arminfo
1 Jun 07

Yerevan, 1 June: The Armenian Constitutional Court continues a hearing
into the lawsuit of the political parties of New Times, Orinats Yerkir,
and the Republic as well as the Impeachment bloc, who demand that
the 12 May parliamentary election results be declared null and void.

[Passage omitted: the government is represented by many high-ranking
officials]

Nikol Pashinyan, editor-in-chief of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, said
in his speech that due to wide-spread irregularities the election
results were falsified and it should be declared null and void. He
said that the authorities had thoroughly planned the wide-spread
violations and began to implement them long before the polling day.

Under the amendments to the Election Code, over 700,000 Armenian
citizens abroad were deprived from the right to vote, and thanks to
this fact, the Republican Party of Armenia [RPA] was able to "freely"
use those votes by hastily issuing new passports. During the election
campaign, the Armenian prime minister and the leader of the RPA,
Serzh Sargsyan, abused his position, campaigning for the RPA; and
the pro-government media outlets were campaigning for the Republican
Party and the other pro-government force, the Prosperous Armenia party.

"The impression was that if you open a refrigerator in any home in
the country, you will hear the voice of Sargsyan, or Gagik Tsarukyan
of the Prosperous Armenia party," Pashinyan said.

The court is in recess now and will resume the hearing soon.