WILL THE "GOOD" BOYS SWALLOW IT?"

A1Plus.am
11/01/10

"Imagine a man with chained hands facing a boxer on the ring. He has
to fight against injustice in a few precincts at a time. Then he hears
the public applauding to the candidate in freedom. Can you imagine
to which extent morality has dropped in Armenia? I am simply giving
my assessment. Will the "good" boys swallow it?" said human rights
advocate Artur Sakunts when commenting on yesterday’s by-election
in Yerevan.

The head of the Vanadzor branch of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly
(HCA) recorded numerous frauds during the election.

"From the legal point of view the election results were faked. This
was a mean election, a real vandalism," noted Mr. Sakunts.

The Assembly demands to nullify the election results at precincts
10/12, 10/15, 10/19 and to call to responsibility Armen Sahakyan and
David Simonyan, observers of the Free Society Institute.

Artur Sakunts notes that none of the TV companies covered the election
since the authorities feared transparency. The head of the Helsinki
Citizens’ Assembly is displeased with the electorate’s passivity.

"The turnout was rather low as people were afraid of expressing their
opinion freely," he said.