RECOUNT FOR ARMENIAN BY-ELECTION

Hurriyet
Jan 14 2010
Turkey

Armenia’s Central Election Commission ordered a recount of the votes
in a disputed parliamentary by-election, Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty’s Armenian service reported.

The recount has reversed results in at least two polling stations
in the Yerevan district, giving defeated challenger Nikol Pashinian
victory at these stations. There are 10 other polling stations in the
district that need to be recounted. Official results from Jan. 11 had
initially given pro-government candidate Ara Simonian 57 percent of
the vote to Pashinian’s 37.5 percent.

Pashinian and the Armenian National Congress, or HAK, of which he is
a leading member, condemned the ballot as fraudulent and said they
will challenge the results in court. Pashinian and the HAK alleged a
long list of irregularities, including vote buying, ballot stuffing,
and intimidation of opposition proxies and election observers by
government loyalists.

Pashinian issued a statement saying he understands the "disappointment"
of his supporters with the ballot’s outcome.

Pashinian is currently in prison while standing trial on charges
stemming from the March 2008 unrest in Yerevan. The HAK party said
that despite calling the vote fraudulent, it said its vote tally
testifies to the party’s "strength and growing authority."

Artashes Geghamian, the leader of the pro-presidential National
Unity Party, or AMK, with which Simonian is affiliated, insisted
that the vote was free and fair. Geghamian also thanked the three
parties represented in Armenia’s government for facilitating the AMK
candidate’s victory.

"In my view, the elections solved one issue," Geghamian told RFE/RL.

"The parties making up the government once again showed our society
that they are determined to go beyond partisan interests and to form
a new political culture."