ARMENIAN NGOS DECRY ELECTION FRAUD

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000390 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O.12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM KJUS AM SUBJECT: ARMENIAN NGOS DECRY ELECTION FRAUD REFS: A) YEREVAN 382 B) YEREVAN 372 ¶1. (SBU) The independent "It's Your Choice" (IYC) NGO, which claimed to have deployed observers in each of Yerevan's 439 polling places, cited ballot stuffing, multiple and illegal voting, voter intimidation, presence of unauthorized personnel, and other procedural violations in its preliminary report issued on June 2. IYC also deplored pre-election violence, vote-buying and pro-government parties' reliance on "administrative resources" as well as their overwhelming control of precincts' election commissions. The report stated that the May 31 elections "further deepened voters' disappointment with political parties and electoral processes." Although IYC noted a "small improvement" in this election over the various local government elections held in Yerevan in 2008, it declared that "there are no sufficient grounds to believe that these elections passed the threshold of democratic, fair and transparent elections." Harutyun Hambardzumian, IYC's head, identified Yerevan's Malatia-Sebastia district for being the scene of the largest number of irregularities. ¶2. (SBU) The local "Unison" NGO, with 96 observers monitoring the election at 53 polling stations in the Kentron district, also noted open voting, directing voters who to vote for, physical assaults, and the presence of unauthorized people inside and outside of the polling stations. ¶3. (SBU) The local Helsinki Committee (HC) NGO fielded 100 observers who monitored 40 polling stations in Yerevan's Arabkir district, and also gave a dim account of the conduct of the vote, with its head, Avetik Ishkhanian, commenting that "these were traditional Armenian elections ... that have never been free and fair." But Ishkhanian noted that HC's monitors encountered comparatively fewer irregularities in Arabkir than monitors in other precincts, commenting that "there was no large-scale electoral fraud in Arabkir." According to HC, a major problem was voter crowding at polling places, which resulted in a loss of control. HC also observed police officers participating in the vote count. Ishkhanian said his observers noticed "people coming and going with lists of voters," as well as voters attempting to vote with a copy of their passport or someone else's passport. ¶4. (SBU) The national chapter of Transparency International (TI) joined the other NGOs in assailing the election, with its chairperson Amalia Kostanian announcing June 1 that the "electoral system of Armenia was ruined after yesterday's election." Kostanian declared that "the whole process was accompanied by infringements of a different scale, and there was great crowding and stuffing at polling stations." Kostanian decried the election in Malatia-Sebastia as the "most immoral." TI representatives stated that they witnessed ballot stuffing, bribery, and violence against observers and journalists, among other things. YOVANOVITCH