Mediamax, Armenia
February 26, 2008

ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CONDEMNS ARREST OF POLITICAL FIGURES

Yerevan, 25 February: Presidential candidate Artur Baghdasaryan, the
leader of the Orinats Yerkir [Law-GovernedCountry] party, will
tomorrow hold a press conference at which he will give a political
and legal assessment of theelection that was held [on 19 February]
and give information about his future steps.

Baghdasaryan’s election headquarters says this in a statement issued
today.

Yesterday at 1800 [1400 gmt], the Armenian Central Electoral
Commission announced at an extraordinary meeting thefinal results of
the presidential election [giving victory to Prime Minister Serzh
Sargsyan]. The meeting was calledwith 30 minutes notice, although the
law requires two hours. The meeting took place immediately after the
deadline forrecounting votes at polling stations ended, and it did
not give candidates the opportunity to study the results ofcomplaints
and compare election documents to form a true picture, the statement
says.

Alongside this process, the arrest of political figures was taking
place in the country, which deserves unambiguouscondemnation. At the
same time, on Freedom Square [venue of opposition protest rallies]
the process of declaring [formerPresident] Levon Ter-Petrosyan
president – who allegedly gained 65 per cent of the vote – is
continuing, which is alsounacceptable, the statement says.

The methods of brute force used by the authorities are increasing
public distrust, deepening the real possibility of mass public
confrontations, throwing a serious shadow over the country’s
international authority, and cast intodoubt the entire presidential
election process, the statement says.

The statement by Baghdasaryan’s election headquarters also notes that
"we consider any attempts at forcibleintervention impermissible and
dangerous and advocate resolving the difficult internal political
situation by means ofexclusively political methods".