Fight Over Presidency Goes to Court

EurasiaNet.org, NY
March 4 2013

Armenia: Fight Over Presidency Goes to Court

March 4, 2013 – 8:49am, by Giorgi Lomsadze

Armenian presidential candidate Raffi Hovhannisian, who argues that a
rigged February 18 presidential election deprived “the people” of
“victory” against incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, has said that he
will demand today that the country’s Constitutional Court throw out
the official election results.

The Court has said that it will consider the appeal in ten days,
Aysor.am reported. The March 4 move will open a legal front in
Hovhannisian’s battle for the presidency, which, so far, has mostly
unfolded in the form of street protests and campaigning. The US-born
leader of the tiny opposition Heritage Party ambitiously has described
his fight as the `Hello Revolution,’ or “Barevolution.”

But the chances remain slim that Hovhannisian, a onetime foreign
minister, will get a favorable court decision or a critical mass of
popular support for greeting his arrival in the presidential
residence. His rival Sargsyan has already been welcomed back into the
presidents’ club by world leaders such as US President Barack Obama
and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sargsyan also commands influence
with Armenia’s state institutions and the Constitutional Court is no
exception, local commentators say.

Armenia’s handling of the voting process scarcely passed muster with
international observers, who noted `implausibly high’ support for the
incumbent in several precincts, but the election monitors did not say
that the irregularities warranted reconsidering the outcome of the
national vote. Local observers have dismissed such findings as wide of
the mark.

Hovhannisian, however, has on his side a significant number of
disenchanted and irked voters, many of whom have been beguiled by the
relatively mild-mannered Hovhannisian and his handshaking campaign
with ordinary Armenians, and are angered by what they call Sargsyan’s
ham-handed efforts to force five more years of himself on Armenia.
Remembering the bloodshed that occurred the last time Armenia had a
disputed presidential vote, Sargsyan tried to come to terms with
Hovhannisian, but the talks failed, and Hovhannisian is now looking
for allies.

On March 2, he met the satin-shirt-inclined, mega-millionaire leader
of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukian. Tsarukian has not
yet said if he may consider throwing his weight behind the
“Barevolution.” Meanwhile, Hovhannisian is planning another large
rally/ game-plan announcement tomorrow in downtown Yerevan; permission
already has been secured for protests through March 25.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress