LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF EUROPEAN PEOPLE’S PARTY
12:44, March 14, 2013
Wilfried Martens
President
European People’s Party
Brussels
Dear Sir:
As you know, on February 18 a presidential election took place in
Armenia. It was contested primarily by the leaders of two parties-the
ruling Republican Party and the opposition Heritage Party-both observer
members of the EPP.
Before the campaign you had conveyed your warm wishes to both
candidates, and expressed your hope for the conduct of a free, fair,
and democratic election. Despite the incumbent’s numerous promises,
the election was anything but free and fair. In fact its results
were systematically falsified, as the incumbent Republican candidate
tried to steal victory by a process of serial ballot-stuffing,
ballot-stealing, and multiple-voting. It remains something of a
miracle that, despite the incumbent’s vast abuse of state resources
throughout the campaign, Raffi Hovannisian earned the majority of
actual votes-not only in every major city, but also in most areas
throughout the republic.
The attached file includes an analysis of the official election results
produced by the independent organization Policy Forum Armenia (whose
findings have been affirmed by several statisticians throughout
the world, including Frederik Sjoberg of Columbia University),
the Interim Report from ODIHR, and a testimonial letter from one of
the distinguished OSCE observers himself. These documents speak for
themselves-and complement a vast body of evidence, both testimonial and
captured directly on video, of the fraud that took place on February
18. This is proof not merely of incidental violations here and there
with no clear effect on the outcome, but rather of a deliberate,
professional disenfranchisement of the Armenian citizen’s democratic
will.
In short: Raffi Hovannisian earned a vast majority of votes in nearly
every precinct where average voter turnout was registered, while Serzh
Sargsyan received nearly or more than 100% of actual votes everywhere
with impossible voter turnouts of 80-99%.
As the de facto president Serzh Sargsyan travels to foreign
countries and receives congratulations on his false victory, Raffi
Hovannisian-the candidate overwhelmingly elected by the Armenian
people-has begun a hunger strike to demand recognition of the true
election results. He has also been open to the possibility of a second
round run-off.
Mr. Martens: Armenia has no future without democracy and free
elections, without a legitimate president, without compliance with
international standards and its own Constitution. The Armenian people
simply can no longer afford to live under a ruler they did not elect.
Their disenfranchisement has nearly robbed them of all faith in
their nationhood. We urge you to reconsider, in correspondence with
EPP’s very own values and standards, your decision to congratulate
the incumbent.
We hope that the EPP will recognize the legitimate vote of the
Armenian nation and will not contribute to the deepening of the
political crisis which has developed in Armenia. Rather, it must
become a true champion of democracy-not of this or that political
party, but of the Armenian people, who made their rightful decision
with definitive hope and courage on February 18.
If your presidential determination-which flies in the face of
European benchmarks of the rule of law, civil liberty, and democratic
justice-becomes the official institutional policy of the entire
EPP family, we shall be compelled to reevaluate our membership in
our great organization that has, most regrettably, deviated from the
fundamental precepts, values, and commitments which we seemed to share,
and which were the foundations of our application.
Sincerely yours,
Styopa Safaryan
Secretary General, International Affairs
Heritage Party / EPP