LOCAL ELECTIONS END WITH ALLEGATIONS OF CONTINUED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001927

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, DRL
NSC FOR DAVID MERKEL
USMISSION OSCE FOR KIT TRAUB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM AM
SUBJECT: LOCAL ELECTIONS END WITH ALLEGATIONS OF CONTINUED
VIOLATIONS

REF: A) YEREVAN 1790 B) YEREVAN 1731

Classified By: A/DCM Robin Phillips for reasons 1.4 (b,d).

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Armenian local elections -- held September 18 through
October 23 -- met international standards, Central Electoral
Commission Head Garegin Azaryan told reporters during an
October 28 press conference. Local election monitors,
however, disputed Azaryan's claim and alleged "widespread
violations" that included voter list inaccuracies, police
interference, ballot box stuffing, illegal campaigning, and
abuse of proxy rights. Council of Europe (CoE) Special
Representative Bojana Urumova previewed a November 9 report
that she told us would support domestic monitors' claims of
"widespread violations." End Summary.

-------------- --------------
ELECTIONS OFFICIAL: ELECTIONS MET INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
-------------- --------------


2. (C) Central Electoral Commission (CEC) Head Garegin
Azaryan, told reporters at an October 28 CEC press conference
that Armenian local elections -- held September 18 through
October 23 -- met international standards. (Note: Azaryan
is one of few GOAM officials to publicly endorse the local
elections as "free and fair." End Note.) Azaryan quoted
Council of Europe (CoE) monitoring team leader Sean O'Brien,
who told reporters during an October 17 press conference that
the local elections were "generally consistent with the
Council of Europe's electoral standards." (Note: On October
31, CoE Special Representative Bojana Urumova told us that a
full CoE report on the local elections -- scheduled for
release on November 9 -- would contradict O'Brien's
assessment, and be much closer to the generally negative
evaluations of domestic observers. "O'Brien's comments were
unfortunate," Urumova told us.)

-------------- ---
ELECTIONS FAILED TO MEET INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
-------------- ---


3. (C) Armenian NGO "It's Your Choice" (funded by the
National Democratic Institute and the British Embassy and
generally linked to the government's detractors) released
weekly reports throughout the election period documenting
"widespread violations and voter list inaccuracies." IYC
Executive Director Harut Humbartsumyan told us that, in each
of the local elections, monitors observed election commission
officials turning voters away from the polls after their
names "inexplicably vanished" from previous versions of the
voters registration lists. IYC's reports also recorded
specific incidents of police interference, ballot box
stuffing, illegal campaigning, and abuse of proxy rights.
"The elections were nowhere near international standards,"
Humbartsumyan said. Humbartsumyan told us IYC plans to
release a full report in early November.

-------------- --------------
POLICE, NOT ELECTIONS COMMISSION, NOW REGISTERING VOTERS
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Effective June 8, Armenia's revised election code
transferred responsibility for local voter registration to
the National Police Passport and Visa Department. "The
police," according to Humbartsumyan, "have obviously failed."
Humbartsumyan complained that police in many precincts
supplied the final version of voters lists (which IYC claimed
contained many inaccuracies) only hours, and sometimes
minutes, before the polls opened. "Disenfranchised voters"
who could not find their names on the list, according to
Humbartsumyan, rarely sought redress in court or other
polling stations.

-------------- --------------
COMMENT: FLAWED LOCAL ELECTIONS A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME?
-------------- --------------


5. (C) As a test case for the November 27 referendum on the
Council of Europe-approved package of constitutional
amendments (reftels),the Armenian elections establishment
failed to live up to expectations. IYC's reports echo news
stories of widespread elections violations and raise serious
concerns about the GOAM's ability to administer a referendum
that the public will accept as free and fair. On October 27,
the Ambassador announced a package of USG democracy
assistance programs focused on the upcoming 2007 and 2008
elections. None of these programs, however, is intended to
change the environment before the referendum on November 27.
EVANS