PRELIMINARY NUMBER OF VOTERS MAKES 2,312,945 IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, JANUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. As of January 24, the preliminary
number of voters on the electoral rolls of the February 19 presidential
elections made 2,312,945, the head of the RA Police Passport and Visa
Department Colonel Alvina Zakarian announced at the January 25 meeting.
According to her, since January 10 when the preliminary electoral rolls
were posted up, 4,001 Armenian citizens aged above 18 received their
passports, while the data on 1,981 citizens who died was removed from
the rolls. To recap, the final number of voters made 2,285,830 at the
parliamentary elections held in Armenia in May 2007.
A. Zakarian said that the police hot line, which was created on January
19 in order to reveal inaccuracies in electoral rolls, received 28
calls. There was no alarm call from any party, no applications were
filed to the hot line.
A. Zakarian again denied the possibility of printing forged passports:
each newly printed passport is fixed in 10 places, reports are
submitted on each passport sheet, even unuseful sheets are registered.
A reporter said that in case of being elected, the presidential
candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian aims to raise the issue of registering
Robert Kocharian as a candidate for presidency of the Republic of
Armenia in violation of the Constitution and then the reporter asked A.
Zakarian if she is not concerned at the fact that she will be held
accountable as the head of the department that had given a certificate
for registration. A. Zakarian said: "I am a representative of law and I
am subject to law. If it is revealed that I made a mistake and shall be
held accountable, I am ready". She added that L. Ter-Petrosian speaks
as if he is already president of Armenia.
A. Zakarian announced that the law on dual citizenship has already
taken effect in Armenia and those citizens, who previously were granted
citizenship of a foreign country without giving up their Armenian
citizenship, now submit declarations on their dual citizenship and are
included as dual citizens of the RA in the state register of the
population. A. Zakarian failed to state the number of those who
received dual citizenship, saying that there are probably a thousand
persons with dual citizenship. In her words, the amendments to the RA
Electoral Code envisage that dual citizens shall be included in
electoral rolls and may vote at elections if they reside in Armenia.