ARMAN MELIKYAN WILL DISPUTE AGAINST OUTCOME OF ELECTION
Lragir
Feb 5 2008
Armenia
The Constitutional Court had declined the presidential candidate
Arman Melikyan’s appeal against the unconstitutional provision of
the Election Code which bars the Armenian citizens abroad from voting.
On February 5 Arman Melikyan stated at the Friday Press Club that
he had met the chief justice of the Constitutional Court Gagik
Harutiunyan the day before who explained why his appeal had been
declined. Arman Melikyan says the explanation satisfied him and was
compliant with the law. The point is that a presidential candidate
can go to the Constitutional Court only in case of obstacles that
cannot be overcome or to dispute the outcome of the voting.
Therefore, since Arman Melikyan’s appeal does not meet any of these
demands, he is going to turn to the ombudsman of Armenia to appeal to
the Constitutional Court to restore the right to vote of the citizens
of Armenia living abroad. Arman Melikyan said he will first consult
lawyers and afterwards he will appeal to the ombudsman.
The presidential candidate says it is immoral to deprive people of the
right to vote who in fact sustain half of the population of Armenia. If
the human rights defender declines to appeal to the Constitutional
Court, if he does not launch a process of restoring the rights of
the citizens of Armenia abroad, Arman Melikyan says he is going to
dispute the outcome of the presidential election despite the outcome
of the voting. The presidential candidate says the Armenian parliament
feared enabling the Diaspora to vote, but in reality it caused more
trouble because several hundreds of thousands of Armenian citizens
who are living abroad were deprived of the right to vote.
He says if there were a wish, it is possible to manage to restore
the right to vote of the Armenian citizens abroad even before the
presidential election, but even in case it does not take place,
if the process is launched, he will be satisfied because it will
guarantee a possibility to solve this problem before the next election.