New York Times, NY
March 8 2008

Armenia: Vote Observers More Critical

By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: March 8, 2008

An election observation team from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe issued a second report on the presidential
election that handed an overwhelming victory to the prime minister,
delivering a more negative assessment of the Feb. 19 vote and its
recount than it initially gave. The report documented numerous cases
of violence, including a case in which a domestic observer lost
consciousness, and `implausibly high voter turnout’ at a number of
polling stations. It assessed the vote count at 17 percent of the
stations as `bad or very bad’ and reported `significant procedural
errors,’ including placing ballots on the wrong candidate’s pile.