Month: June 2009

OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF PLACES OF COUNCIL OF YEREVAN ELDERS TO BE GIVEN TO THE ARP

ARMENPRESS
June 1, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS: According to the initial results of
elections three political powers will be represented in the Council
of Yerevan Elders – Armenian Republican Party (nearly 47.1%),
"Prosperous Armenia Party" (nearly 22.6%) and "Armenian National
Congress" (nearly 17.3%) the other parties did not overcome the
fixed pre-election barrier of 7%. Thus the ARP got more than 40% of
the places and according to the law "On the local self-governance in
the town of Yerevan" the overwhelming majority of the places will be
given to this party.

According to the same law if as a result of elections of Council of
Elders one of the Parties gets more than 50% of places of Council
of Elders, that’s to say the absolute majority, the person who is in
the first place of the party list is considered elected mayor.

The mayor assumes his post on the third calendar day after being
elected with the oath given to the residents of Yerevan during the
session of Council of Elders. According to the law the first session
of newly elected Council of Elders is summoned on the first Monday
after the official publication of the decision on the election of
members of Council of Elders.

According to the Electoral Code the Central Electoral Commission
not later than in 7 days after the voting summarizes the results of
elections. Thus the session of Council of Elders is scheduled for
June 8.

The Council of Elders may have factions which are established on
the opening day of the first session of the newly elected Council
of Elders; not more than 4 permanent commissions as well as ad hoc
commissions may be established.

The town of Yerevan is divided into 12 administrative regions the
heads of which are appointed and dismissed by the Mayor. After the
elections of Council of Elders the district communities of Yerevan
are considered re-formulated as Yerevan community.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CoE CONGRESS OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES WELCOMES THE FIRST MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS OF YEREVAN AND EXPRESSES ITS SATISFACTION ON THE ELECTION PROCESS

ARMENPRESS
June 1, 2009

YEREVAN, JUNE 1, ARMENPRESS: The CoE Congress of Local and Regional
Authorities welcomes the municipal elections of held for the first time
in Yerevan and expresses its satisfaction on the electoral process.

During today’s press conference presenting its initial assessments
the Congress delegation noted that the elections were organized in
accordance with European standards. The Congress delegation expressed
its gratification that Armenia with its own abilities assisted the
implementation of local democracy and the May 31 elections of Council
of Elders registered a great progress compared with September 2008
elections of local self governmental bodies held in the capital.

The Congress observers also registered some flaws during the elections
which cannot affect the legality of the election results but will
find place in the final report of the mission.

The CoE Congress of Local and Regional Authorities was the only
organization which had an international observation mission. From
May 3-6 the Congress delegates observed the pre-election procedures
but the short-term observers were in Yerevan from May 27 by now.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS PUBLICIZED: REPUBLICAN PARTY OF ARMENIA LEADING WITH 190,171 VOTES

armradio.am
01.06.2009 10:38

Elections for the Yerevan City Council took place in the Armenian
capital on May 31. 407 745 citizens or 52.85% of the voters
participated in the elections.

According to the preliminary results published by the Central
Electoral Commission, the Republican Party is leading with 190,171
votes, followed by Prosperous Armenia Party (91,141 votes) and the
Armenian National Congress (69,871). Orinats Yerkir Party received
20,959 votes, ARF Dashnaktsutyun – 18,648 votes, the People’s Party –
8,569 votes and the Labor Socialist Party of Armenia – 1,951 votes.

The number of valid ballots was 401,310. 10,493 ballots were considered
invalid.

ABRAM BAKHCHAGULYAN: THE ELECTIONS OF THE YEREVAN CITY COUNCIL WERE FAIR AND TRANSPARENT
Shakeh Avoyan

"Radiolur"
01.06.2009 11:53

The elections for the City Council of Yerevan were fair and
transparent, Secretary of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia
Abram Bakhchagulyan told reporters today. According to him, publicity
was ensured during the elections. The Central Electoral Commission
had launched an internal network, through which district electoral
commission were reporting about the process of elections and the
counting of votes on-the-fly.

Abram Bakhchagulyan noted that the District Electoral Commissions and
the CEC were rapidly responding to all the shortcomings and violations
registered at polling stations. In particular, infringements were
registered during the vote counting at polling station 8/3 in Malatsia
Sebastia; the commission did not allow international observers to
participate in the process of counting. The shortcoming was corrected
immediately after the alarm was received.

>From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Central Electoral Commission is accepting
complaints today. According to Abram Bakhchagulyan, after the appeals
are considered, it will become clear what kind of shortcomings and
violations occurred and whether they will affect the outcome of the
voting or not.

Abram Bakhchagulyan considers that 52% of participation is a high
level of voter turnout.

THE ELECTION DAY AS ASSESSED BY PARTICIPATING FORCES
Siranush Muradyan

"Radiolur"
01.06.2009 13:08

The political forces are already speaking loudly about the election
results.

Leader of the People’s Party Tigran Karapetyan is not discontent with
the number of his vote, but is disappointed with the voting process,
as a whole. "I think my results were normal. But everything was turned
into a sale. It was not voting; it was bargaining. I’m content with
my results, but dissatisfied with the election process, as a whole."

ARF Dashnaktsutyun is still summing up the results. Artyusha
Shahbazyan, who was in charge for the election campaign, said: "We
have not analyzed the results yet. We still have to compare the facts
and numbers. There have been some infringements. We should discuss
to what extent they could have affected the outcome of the election."

Coordinator of the Armenian National Congress Levon Zurabyan said
they were dissatisfied with the whole election process. "Do you
know anyone besides the authorities that would be satisfied with
the process of elections? The authorities in power committed another
crime. During today’s rally we will speak about what we are going to
do," Zurabyan said.

SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT ARMENIA

armradio.am
01.06.2009 13:28

The Foreign Minister of the Arabic Republic of Syria, Walid Al-Moualem,
will pay a working visit to Armenia June 1-2.

Minister Al-Moualem is expected to have meetings with the President
of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Speaker
of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan and Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian.

BORIS NAVASARDYAN: COVERAGE OF THE CAMPAIGN WAS ALMOST EXEMPLARY
Karen Ghazaryan

"Radiolur"
01.06.2009 15:31

The Yerevan Press Club today presented an interim report on the
coverage of the elections for the Yerevan City Council by 7 Armenian
TV channels. The monitoring was conducted with the financial assistance
of the Open Society Institute.

The monitoring was conducted in two stages – before the start of the
election campaign and during the campaign. The final report will be
ready in a few days.

Presenting the general content of the monitoring, President of the
Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardyan noted that the coverage of this
campaign differed from that of the presidential elections. According
to Boris Navasardyan, the materials presented by media and the
technologies used by the participating forces did not tend to prove
that the rival was worse. On the contrary, every political force had
the objective to prove that it was better.

The content of seven TV channels in Armenia was monitored. With
regard to the Public Television, Boris Navasardyan said: "This time
the Public TV ensured almost exemplary coverage."

Six other TV channels included the Second Armenian Channel, ALM (both
aired all over the territory of the republic), ArmNews, Yerkir Media,
Kentron and Shant. "This was a neutral, and even a kind campaign,"
this is the conclusion experts of the Yerevan Pres s Club drew

Summing up the results, Boris Navasardyan stated: "This proves that
our electronic media can be rather unbiased if they want so. If they
are not neutral, then they don’t want to or are not allowed to."

ASSESSMENT OF FOREIGN OBSERVERS: ELECTIONS CORRESPONDING TO EUROPEAN STANDARDS
Anna Nazaryan

"Radiolur"
01.06.2009 16:07

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of
Europe welcomes the first elections for the Yerevan City Council and
expresses its satisfaction with the electoral processes. At today’s
press conference the Congress delegation presented its preliminary
assessment, noting that the elections were organized in line with
European standards.

"Armenia managed to contribute to the implementation of local democracy
on its own. The overall organization of the elections corresponded to
European standards. In this respect the monitoring mission registered
considerable progress as compared to local self-government elections
held in Yerevan in September 2008," head of the delegation Nigel
Mermagen declared.

Observers of the Congress noted also that there were certain
shortcomings during the voting, but they could not have affected the
legitimacy of the elections. However, these will be included in the
final report of the organization.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRELIMINARY DATA OF ARMENIA’S CEC: RPA WINS ELECTION OF COUNCIL OF ELDERS OF YEREVAN

ArmInfo
2009-06-01 10:58:00

According to the preliminary data of Armenia’s Central Election
Committee, total of 412 464 people voted at the election of the
Council of Elders of Yerevan.

Upon the results of the election, the Republican party of Armenia
gathered 190177 votes or 47,39%, ‘Prosperous Armenia’ party – 91141
votes or 22,71 %, Armenian National Congress – 69871 votes or 17,41
%, ‘Orinats Yerkir’ party – 20959 votes or 5,22 %, ‘Dashnaktsutyun’
party – 18648 votes or 4,65 %, People’s party – 8569 votes or 2,14 %,
Labour-Socialist party – 1951 votes or 0,49 %. A bit more than half
of the citizens, being entitled to vote, took part in the election.

To recall, the election were held on a proportional system. The
first in the list of the party which gains the majority of votes
automatically becomes Yerevan Mayor.

DEFENSE MINISTRY OF NAGORNY KARABAKH REPUBLIC VALIDATES REPORTS ON AWOL OF TWO SOLDIERS

ArmInfo
2009-06-01 16:10:00

ArmInfo. Defense Ministry of the NKR has confirmed the report on
absence of two soldiers without official leave (AWOL). The NKR DM
press-service told ArmInfo soldiers Ohan Haroutiunyan and Gevorg
Tovmasyan left the army unit of NKR Defense Army without official leave
and occurred in the territory controlled by the Azerbaijani army. An
inquiry into the circumstances of the incident is underway. Both the
soldiers were called up on May 19 2009.