LOCAL OBSERVERS CITE MAJOR INFRACTIONS, STOP SHORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 002081

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM AM
SUBJECT: LOCAL OBSERVERS CITE MAJOR INFRACTIONS, STOP SHORT
OF CALLING REFERENDUM RESULTS INVALID

REF: YEREVAN 2074

Classified By: Amb. John M. Evans for reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) It's Your Choice (IYC),Armenia's largest election
observation NGO (funded in part by the USG),announced during
a November 29 press conference that there were major
infractions during the recent referendum on constitutional
amendments that had "serious impacts on the results." They
stopped short, however, of saying that the November 27
referendum results were invalid or that the amendments had
not been adopted as a result of the voting. Harut
Hmbardzumyan, Director of It's Your Choice, said that
observers were present for at least part of the day on
November 27 in 1,300 polling stations. He listed ballot
stuffing, open voting and intimidation of observers as some
of the worst infractions. Hmbardzumyan blasted both the GOAM
for "grossly inflated numbers" and the opposition for
"exaggerating the low turnout." IYC would not estimate how
many voters in fact showed up at the polls for the referendum
but said that anecdotal evidence in at least ten polling
stations suggested that election officials had inflated the
figures by 300-400 percent. IYC gave us a 12-page summary of
its findings following the press conference detailing the
major violations it observed.


2. (C) IYC was extremely critical of the Council of Europe's
(CoE) statement on the election. Hmbardzumyan called into
question the validity of the report given the small number of
delegates the CoE sent to Armenia to observe the referendum.
He made special note of local press reports that the CoE
delegation was divided in its opinion on the voting and that
the CoE statement diverged from comments made by individual
members during their November 28 press conference. With the
exception of print media, IYC told us that participation by
media was less that it had expected. Only four local
television stations (and none of the government stations)
covered the IYC press conference.


3. (C) Comment: We were disappointed by the turnout during
IYC's press conference and will be carefully watching media
coverage of its findings over the next few days. Notably
absent from the event was Armenia TV, part of the media group
funded by an American-Armenian who earlier pledged that his
station would be the standard for "balanced coverage" of the
referendum. By criticizing both the GOAM and opposition
final numbers on the referendum as well as the CoE's
statement, IYC is not going to have many enthusiastic
supporters here in Yerevan for its final report.
Nevertheless, as the observer organization with the largest
coverage of polling places on November 27 and the most
experience with election monitoring, IYC is still our best
source for first-hand information regarding the integrity of
the vote.
EVANS