Public Television of Armenia
May 31 2009
Turnout in Yerevan election at 52.85 per cent – official
The chairman of Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission, Garegin
Azaryan, said that 407,745 voters, or 52.85 per cent of Yerevan
residents eligible to vote, participated in the City Council election
in the Armenian capital on 31 May, Armenian Public TV reported.
Shant TV, Armenia
May 31 2009
Polls open in municipal election in Armenian capital
[Presenter] The polling stations opened in [Armenia’s] capital two
hours ago [0300 gmt] sharp, and the election of city council started
in Yerevan. The election is being held completely on proportional
representation system. This is the first time being applied in
Armenia. Six parties and one bloc of political forces run in the
election. According to the latest report from the Police, 771,477
citizens have the right to vote in Yerevan city council election.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
What was taking place in Malatia-Sebastia community was not an election
but real anarchy: Armenian National Congress
2009-05-31 21:32:00
ArmInfo. The authorities have proved once again that they are
criminals by organizing criminalized elections. What was taking place
in Malatia-Sebastia community was not an election but real anarchy,
the coordinator of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) Levon Zurabyan
said while summing up the results of today’s elections into the
Council of Elders of Yerevan.
Voters were bribed on a mass scale. "They brought lots of people from
the country and forced them to vote instead of Yerevan residents. Lots
of people, mostly, proxies of ANC and Heritage party, were beaten in
Malatia-Sebastia community. Anushavan Nikogossyan, proxy of Heritage
party, was even kidnapped," Zurabyan said. He is sure that the violence
will be continued during the count.
Spokesman of ANC Arman Musinyan said that lots of soldiers were
involved in the voting, particularly, servicemen from Nagorno-
Karabakh. "It was a well-organized action. 99% of the violations were
aimed against ANC," Musinyan said. "We had lawyers at all polling
stations and they are presently drafting complaints. For the moment, we
don’t know if the violations organized by the regime will be enough for
it to steal our victory. But we believe that we will win," Musinyan
said.
City council election over in Yerevan
YEREVAN, May 31. /ARKA/. City council election is already completed in
Yerevan.
All the 439 polling stations of the city closed at 20:00 local time.
Elections to the city council are being held in Yerevan for the first
time. The council will consist of 65 members.
The council seats will be filled through party lists.
The first number in the list of the party than wins the majority of
seats in the council will automatically take up the mayor post.
Six political parties and one bloc run in the elections.
Three of them ` Republican Party of Armenia, Prosperous Armenia and
Orinats Yerkir ` are members of the ruling coalition.
Other competitors are Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutiun,
People’s Party, Labor Socialist Party of Armenia and Armenian National
Congress opposition bloc.
Tatev Ohanyan, press secretary of Armenian Central Electoral
Commission, said the preliminary results of the election will be
announced within 24 hours.
She said that the Central Electoral Commission is going to make a
statement tomorrow morning.
The commission said 41.66% turnout was recorded by 18:00 local time.
Yerevan has 771,477 residents eligible to vote. -0′
Chairwoman of polling station 11/04 Hasmik Ghazaryan states that she
didn’t conflict with parliamentarian Naira Zohrabyan
2009-05-31 20:33:00
ArmInfo. Chairwoman of polling station 11/04 Hasmik Ghazaryan told the
police that she didn’t conflict with MP of Armenian National Assembly
Naira Zohrabyan. She added that Naira Zohrabyan didn’t hit her and, in
general, the whole electoral process is going on normally, the Armenian
Police press-service told ArmInfo.
To recall, earlier N. Zohrabyan told ArmInfo she was informed that
Hasmik Ghazaryan, who, in her words, is known to violate the Election
Code for many times, violated the voting process on May 31. ‘I arrived
at the polling station and demanded Hasmik Ghazaryan to act within the
frames of the law’, N. Zohrabyan said and added that she is unaware
which political force H. Ghazaryan supports. Afterwards, H. Ghazaryan
attacked N. Zohrabyan crying out that she is authorized to do
everything.
To note, Hasmik Ghazaryan said in her interview with mass media that
Naira Zohrabyan hit her on the head with a mobile telephone.
Beaten journalist refused to give police testimony
31.05.2009 15:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to the statement released by Armenian
National Congress (ANC), Parliament MP Levon Sargsyan has today broken
into polling station 9/1 and ordered his bodyguards to remove from
there journalists Gohar Veziryan (`Tchorrord Ishkhanutyun’), Tatev
Mesropyan (`Hayq’) and Marine Kharatyan (`Zhamanak Yerevan’). `The
MP’s bodyguards beat media representatives and seizing their
dictaphones and mobile phones’ ANC activists say in the statement. ANC
also reports that journalists intend to report the incident to the
police.
According to available information, Gohar Vardanyan, who was called to
RA Police to give testimony, refused to answer law enforcers’
questions. `I consulted with my lawyer who informed me of my
constitutional right of not reporting the incident to the police. I
followed his advice and refused to answer policemen’s questions,’ she
said.
Conscripts do not participate in Yerevan Council voting
31.05.2009 15:48 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As reported by RA Defense Ministry’s Spokesman
Seyran Shahsouvaryan, no lists were drawn up for servicemen’s
participation in voting, and no conscript quit his post for that
purpose.
According to Mr. Shahsuvaryan, military unit commanders were given
instruction not to interfere with officers and contract servicemen’s
voting. `We also took relevant measures to prevent using force against
those who are unwilling to vote.’
Shahsuvaryan called on everybody to refrain from speculating the
subject, RA Defense Ministry’s press release reports.
Deceased Gevorg Tadeposyan is reported to have participated in voting
31.05.2009 16:22 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to a release disseminated by the Armenian
National Congress (ANC), deceased Gevork Tadevosyan voted in polling
station 12/21 at around 1:30 p.m. Opposition activists also claim that
great number of citizens were brought to polling stations in minibuses
and were given bribes in the amount of AMD 5 thousand. ANC also
reports cases of ballot-box stuffing and conscripts’ participation in
voting.
Besides, ANC authorized representatives claim they were subjected to
pressures in polling stations.
Election Commission member Mkhitar Nazaryan was not beaten in Malatia
31.05.2009 16:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today, at 10:00 a.m., candidate Vahagn Khachatryan
called Malatia Police Department, reporting on commission member
Mkhitar Nazaryan’s being beaten in polling station ¹ 7/18.
During police interrogation, Mkhitar Nazaryan said he had been in
polling station since 7:00 p.m. and hadn’t been beaten by anyone.
Later, Sayat Gasparyan, member of Election Commission ¹7/18, confirmed
that no incident of the kind had occurred, RA Police says in a
release.
Yerevan Council elections completed
31.05.2009 20:09 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yerevan Council elections are over. As of 05:00 p.m,
321 thousand 403 people or 41.66% of voters participated in voting, RA
CEC reports.
Below we present voting participation rate in different districts:
Avan: 17 thousand 818 people (out of 35 thousand 908 voters) or 49.62%;
Nor-Nork: 37 thousand 504 (out of 53 thousand 613 voters) or 40.43%;
Arabkir: 30 thousand 836 (out of 88 thousand 974 voters) or 34.66%;
Davtashen: 13 thousand 669 (out of 28 thousand 503 voters) or 47.96%;
Achapnyak: 33 thousand 327 (out of 76 thousand 820 voters) or 43.38%;
Malatia-Sebastia: 44 thousand 260 (out of 97 thousand 83 voters) or 45.59%;
Shengavit: 52 thousand 737 (out of 105 thousand 544 voters) or 49.97%;
Kentron: 35 thousand 453 (out of 90 thousand 45 voters) or 39.37%;
Nork-Marash: 4 thousand 18 (out of 9 thousand 122 voters) or 44.05%;
Erebuni: 27 thousand 316 (out of 86 thousand 248 voters) or 31.67%;
Noubarashen: 2 thousand 790 (out of 7 thousand 91 voters) or 39.35%.
Elections were observed by 7 thousand authorized individuals
representing 6 political parties and 1 electoral bloc.
There were about 6 thousand local and 15 foreign observers, the latter
representing the Congress of CoE local and territorial authorities.
For the 771 thousand 477 voters of Yerevan, 790 thousand ballot papers
were printed. CEC will report voting results every three hours.
There were the following political fractions running for election:
Republican Party of Armenia (candidate topping the list: acting Mayor
Gagik Beglaryan), Prosperous Armenia (Health Minister Harutyun
Kushkyan), `Orinats Yerkir’ (MP Heghine Bisharyan) and ARFD
Dashnaktsutyun: (MP Artsvik Minasyan). Among extra-parliamentary
factions, the following stood for election: People’s Party (Tigran
Karapetyan), Armenian Labor Socialist Party (Movses Shahverdyan) and
Armenian National Congress (ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan).