CEC HEAD ACCREDITS EMBASSY FOR YEREVAN ELECTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 YEREVAN 000364 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2019 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM KJUS AM SUBJECT: CEC HEAD ACCREDITS EMBASSY FOR YEREVAN ELECTION REF: YEREVAN 202 YEREVAN 00000364 001.2 OF 003 Classified By: AMB Marie L. Yovanovitch -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) During his May 21 meeting with the Ambassador, Garegin Azarian, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), granted the Embassy the nine accreditations we had requested. Azarian defended the measures that the CEC has put in place for a free and fair election, but admitted "there is a certain point after which the CEC is no longer in control of the situation" on Election Day. Azarian also defended the post-vote electoral complaints process, and the legality of contract soldiers voting in the election. Azarian also responded to two letters the Ambassador had sent him, saying he, too, deplored the recent violence but was glad it was happening before the election rather than on Election Day itself. He said an administrative solution existed for the approximately 70 citizens who complained to the Embassy that they are unable to register for the vote. The Ambassador stressed the importance that Secretary Clinton places on the conduct of the election for continuing the MCC program, and on restoring Armenians' faith in their electoral process. END SUMMARY. -------------- CEC ACCREDITS AMBASSADOR PLUS EIGHT -------------- ¶2. (C) On May 21 the Ambassador met with CEC Chairman Garegin Azarian to follow up the Embassy's request for nine observer accreditations sent in early May. To the Embassy's surprise, Azarian issued all of the accreditations. (Comment: We had grown concerned that he might accredit only the Ambassador after learning on May 15 from the British Ambassador that Azarian had denied an accreditation to his deputy head of mission. End Comment.) After the Ambassador thanked him for the accreditations, Azarian gave a sheepish grin and asked that the Ambassador "not inform other missions" how many accreditations he had given the U.S. Embassy. (Note: In the 2007 parliamentary elections, the CEC accredited only five Embassy observers; in the 2008 presidential election it accredited only the Charge d'Affaires; and in the September 2008 Kentron community election it accredited only two Embassy staff. End Note.) -------------- -------------- YES TO FAIR ELECTION, BUT LIMIT TO WHAT CEC "CONTROLS" -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) Azarian assured the Ambassador that the CEC has "provided all the necessary conditions" to ensure a free and fair election. But then he sighed and said "there is a certain point after which the CEC and TECs are no longer in control of the situation." He asserted that in spite of "the processes that can take place on Election Day, we should be ok if "observers and proxies fulfill their roles as watchdogs." But then he cautioned that "if they are not active and responsible, the CEC cannot guarantee the result." (Comment: Azarian's comment is disingenuous. The fact is that observers and proxies are only a mild deterrent to the pro-government shenanigans that take place in the voting precincts. Past experience shows that observers or proxies who raise election violations are frequently dealt with through intimidation or violence inflicted by pro-government activists who closely monitor the vote and vote count. End Comment.) ¶4. (C) The Ambassador said she hoped the election will meet both international and Armenian standards, stressing that there was a lot riding on the vote's conduct. She said the election provided an opportunity for Armenia to show in practice that it was serious about its stated commitment to democratic principles. Secretary Clinton had emphasized this in her recent letter linking the conduct of the vote with continuation of the MCC rural roads construction program. More importantly, the Ambassador said the election was a rare opportunity to restore the Armenian public's faith in its electoral system, so that citizens can believe their vote really counts and they have an incentive to make their opinions known during elections. -------------- DESCRIPTION OF COMPLAINTS PROCESS -------------- YEREVAN 00000364 002.2 OF 003 ¶5. (C) Azarian defended the controversial electoral complaints process when the Ambassador pressed him on it. The Ambassador said the very short time frame for filing complaints (by 2 pm the day following the vote),the short time frame for TECs to review all of the submitted complaints (within five days after the election),and the non-review of some complaints because of the hard deadline posed serious obstacles for a thorough airing and review of electoral complaints. Azarian replied that the electoral process "has to have a start and finish, and has to be regulated," otherwise the existence of "an open-ended process" would add to the "already stressful situations that our elections represent." He said the political parties know the rules -- all they have to do is comply with them. -------------- CEC ON VOTING BY SOLDIERS -------------- ¶6. (C) When asked about recent media reports and an electoral complaint lodged by the opposition alleging that the Ministry of Defense was illegally ordering its soldiers to vote in the election, Azarian attributed the controversy to poor internal communication in the MOD. (Note: According to Article 2 of the Electoral Code, "Citizens who are considered military servicemen performing their military service or taking part in military exercises may not participate in local self-government elections and National Assembly elections under the majoritarian system." End Note.) ¶7. (C) Azarian said the Armenian language in the MOD directive was badly mangled by a high-ranking officer whose first language is Russian. Azarian said he had phoned the Minister of Defense on the issue, followed up the call with a meeting with MOD's press secretary, and came away satisfied that it was an innocent error. Azarian maintained that the Electoral Code article only applied to conscript soldiers and not contract soldiers, and that the directive concerned only the contract soldiers. He said the Minister of Defense had already issued a written reply to Armenia's Ombudsman, who had raised the issue in early April. (Note: Staff at the Ombudsman's office told Emboffs early on May 21 that they had not received any reply from the MOD. Subsequent to the Ambassador's meeting with Azarian, the opposition told Emboffs that they held in their possession lists of conscripts complied by MOD for use in the election, as well as a sample census form allegedly designed to elicit bio data from conscripts on their relatives, also for use in the election. End Note.) -------------- -- ANSWERS AMBASSADOR'S RECENT LETTERS ON ELECTION -------------- -- ¶8. (C) Azarian then responded to two recent letters the Ambassador had sent the Police Chief of Armenia, on which he was copied. One of the letters expressed concern over the mounting violence in the election campaign. In response, Azarian said he deplored it as well, and pointed out that he had issued a press release saying so, but he declared that "I am glad these minor things are happening now, so that parties are more sober on Election Day" and will refrain from such violence then. ¶9. (C) In response to the Ambassador's second letter, which conveyed concern over the inability of roughly 70 citizens to register for the upcoming vote as a result of their homes having been expropriated earlier in the decade to allow the construction of the controversial Northern Avenue, Azarian contended that there was an administrative solution. He said the Electoral Code provided for three categories of citizens who are eligible to vote in the election: a) those who could prove permanent registration in Yerevan; b) those who could prove temporary registration; and c) those who, although not registered, could qualify to vote by showing the Police-controlled Passport and Visa Department (OVIR) a document from their community in Yerevan that showed them living there. Azarian then mocked the opposition led by ex-President Levon Ter-Petrossian for appealing the registration issue with the Constitutional Court, saying the Court's May 8 decision that non-registered citizens could not vote in local elections actually would make it harder for these citizens to register now. But he told the Ambassador he was willing to meet with the affected citizens and explain the administrative solution. The Ambassador welcomed Azarian's offer and said she would recommend the citizens to meet with him as soon as possible. (Comment: A group of citizens did meet with Azarian, who tried to be helpful, but they said that even Azarian was unable to get the citizens YEREVAN 00000364 003.2 OF 003 registered. OVIR will not register the citizens without a letter from their landlords and the landlords are afraid to provide it. End Comment.) -------------- DETAILS NEW SAFEGUARDS, TECHNOLOGY TO BE USED -------------- ¶10. (C) Azarian described several new anti-tampering safeguards to be used on Election Day. These included an invisible water seal on the ballots which would prevent photo-copying of ballots; the issuance to the 439 Precinct Electoral Commissions (PECs) of a special stamp for stamping ballots that contained a secret identification number for each precinct that was invisible to the naked eye; and tamper-proof packages for sealing the protocols after the vote count in preparation of their transport to the Territorial Electoral Commissions (TECs). ¶11. (C) Azarian also reported that for the first time in a local election, the CEC would use vote tally software that would enable the electronic uploading of vote counts from PECs to the TECs and CEC at the same time. Azarian said that the vote counts would appear immediately, in real time, on projection screens located at both TECs and the CEC. He then asked the Ambassador if the Embassy could help provide LCD projectors for this purpose at seven of the TECs that currently lacked them. The Ambassador promised to look into the request and get back to Azarian. -------------- - THANKS BUT NO THANKS TO SMS VOTE TALLY PROGRAM -------------- ¶12. (C) Azarian separately raised the recent demonstration of a SMS vote tally program developed by the local IFES office in Armenia, saying it had failed. Azarian admitted that he had tested the system by entering incorrect data, to see how it would respond, and when the IFES personnel could not recapture his incorrect entry for two hours, Azarian said "I cannot be put in such a situation on Election Day." He told the Ambassador that after the election, he would have his own IT staff develop a more reliable system. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶13. (C) Azarian appeared to be on a full-court charm offensive during the meeting, seeking to allay all of our concerns about fraud on Election Day. Some of his replies stretched incredulity, however, and we obviously take his assurances with a healthy grain of salt. What was most revealing to us was his truthful admission that the CEC "only controls so much" on Election Day. This is why we requested more rather than few observers, and this is why -- in view of the mounting violence during the campaign -- we think Yerevan's first mayoral election remains unpredictable. YOVANOVITCH