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