WASHINGTON SLAMS ARMENIAN BY-ELECTION FOR FRAUD
Alex DerAlexanian

Asbarez
Jan 14th, 2010

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan on Thursday denounced
as fraudulent a weekend by-election to Armenia’s parliament and
urged the authorities to prosecute those responsible for "numerous
irregularities" witnessed by American and local observers.

The embassy deployed the only international observer mission for the
January 10 vote that was held in a central Yerevan constituency and
controversially won by a pro-government candidate, Aram Simonian.

"Embassy observers found numerous irregularities, including
intimidation of voters, verbal and physical threats directed
at journalists and observers, and in some cases the presence of
uncredentialed, non-voting individuals sympathetic to the National
Unity Party candidate, who appeared to be managing the electoral
process in lieu of the authorized members of the local electoral
commissions," the embassy spokesman, Thomas Mittnacht, told RFE/RL.

"The Embassy urges Armenian authorities to investigate all reported
violations and allegations of violence, and to swiftly identify and
prosecute those responsible," Mittnacht said. "We are pleased to see
that requested recounts are underway in some precincts, and that the
authorities have invalidated the results in those precincts where
the integrity of the voting was compromised."

A district commission that managed the poll annulled official
results in two precincts on Thursday. But that did not prevent it
from formally declaring Simonian election winner. The decision was
promptly endorsed by the Central Election Commission (CEC). The CEC
said evidence of serious fraud there will be submitted to the Office
of the Prosecutor-General.

The law-enforcement agency said late Wednesday that it has instructed
the Armenian police to investigate various irregularities reported
in those and other precincts. It said the police have already opened
a criminal case in connection with the beating of opposition leader
Petros Makeyan and his two companions outside a polling station.

All three men required hospitalization. They claimed to have been
assaulted by government loyalists while trying to stop vote rigging.

The police claimed on Sunday that it is the oppositionists who provoked
the incident by beating up a Simonian proxy. It is thus not clear
yet who will be prosecuted for the violence.

U.S. monitors were similarly critical of the Armenian government’s
conduct of last May’s municipal elections in Yerevan. The criticism
was one of the reasons why the U.S. government cut $67 million in
additional economic assistance promised to Yerevan.