“HOW INVALID VOTES CAN BECOME VALID”
15:32, March 11, 2013
2013 Armenian presidential election observer of OSCE and former
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ireland Dermot Ahern’s
letter to Armenian Bar Association Chairman Garo Ghazarian regarding
the fraud he witnessed during the February 18 election, particularly
in Precinct 26/1, in which a landslide for Raffi Hovannisian was
converted into a victory for the incumbent.
Dear Garo Ghazarian, Chairman of the Armenian Bar Association
March 5, 2013
You might remember that we spoke at length on the plane from Yerevan
to Paris, just after the presidential election. I indicated to you
that I felt uneasy about what happened in the polling station and in
the TEC that I observed on the day of the election.
To recap, I and my German colleague Hedda Haars observed six polling
stations during the day and as instructed by the OSCE core team,
we finished observing the election in PEC 26/1 Yeghvard Elementary
School No 3. From what we saw, from 7 PM to the close at 8 PM,
everything was done correctly.
The presiding officer and team proceeded to count the votes. Again,
everything was done in accordance with the instructions. The presiding
officer showed to everyone, including ourselves, our interpreter,
our driver as well as a proxy on behalf of the incumbent, every vote
once he had taken it from the envelope.
Immediately, it transpired that Raffi was hovering up the votes. This
caused some surprise with the local participants. Indeed, it became
somewhat embarrassing in that virtually every vote was for Raffi.
Every odd time, a vote came out for the incumbent, there was a slight
laugh from some of the locals. On and on, it continued with Raffi
getting virtually all of the votes. The proxy for the incumbent was
tallying in a very methodical way and I could see clearly from his
tally that Raffi was way ahead. In fact, he actually ran out of paper,
Raffi got so many votes over the incumbent. At about 9:15 PM. I sent a
text to my principal to say that with 30 percent of the votes counted
Raffi was at least 3 to 1 ahead.
During this time and up until when we left, a number of invalid votes
were declared. For instance, one vote was declared invalid because the
voter had voted for everyone, except the incumbent. Another vote was
invalid because the voter voted for somebody who previously contested
an election, but not this one. A number of other votes were declared
invalid because they did not have the correct mark or indeed no mark
at all. I estimated that there were more than 10 during our time
there between 8 PM and 10 PM when we left for the TEC.
By the time we left, we both agreed that with approximately 35% of
the vote counted, Raffi was ahead by at least 3 to 1. We proceeded to
the TEC 26 in Yeghvard and introduced ourselves to the TEC team. The
conditions of the location for tabulation at this location were far
from ideal. It consisted of two rooms separated by a corridor which
meant that I stayed in the room where the chair and deputy chair met
with the PEC teams as they came in with their results. My colleague
Hedda stayed in the other room where a secretary entered the results
from the various protocols.
I was given very little cooperation by the TEC team in that they did
not offer any information to me as to the PEC teams coming in with
their protocols. The lack of space made it particularly difficult
for me to see anything. I had to ask for information, any time I
wanted it. My interpreter and driver indicated to me that the team
were somewhat uneasy about our presence.
When the results came in from number 26/1, I particularly was
interested and asked for the result. This wasn’t forthcoming, but my
interpreter got to see the protocol and indicated that the incumbent
had beaten Raffi by 382 to 302 approximately. I was astonished by
this apparent turnaround since we left the count. I tried to get more
information, to no avail.
However, my interpreter then told me that he noticed on the protocol
that there were zero invalid votes. I was completely taken aback
by this, and I asked my interpreter to let the chair know about
my astonishment.
Between then and when we finally finished the tabulation observation at
approximately 3:30 AM, I was given little or no cooperation. I finally
asked if I could see the final written result and the chair refused. I
met up with my colleague Hedda who had expressed satisfaction with
what she had seen in the other room, in that the results were properly
put onto the computer. I suggested that she might ask the chairman
herself for a copy of the protocol. But again he declined waving his
hands in the air. We asked if they would be publishing the result
and his reply was in the morning. We immediately left. We filled out
the necessary form for the OSCE, having kept in constant contact with
them during the night.
I’ve been practicing politician here in Ireland for 32 years,
contesting and winning every election I personally fought in. I was
director of elections board at national and local level for my party.
I have never witnessed anything like this. From my experience, I
know a trend, when I see one, and something very strange happened to
overturn the result, after we left the count in PEC 26/1.
As I stated to you, I feel that full re-examination of this count
should take place. I could not understand then and still now how
invalid votes can become valid.
If you require any further information please do not hesitate to
contact me.
Dermot Ahern
2013 presidential election observer of OSCE in Armenia, former Minister
of Foreign Affairs and former Minister of Justice and Law Reform of
the Republic of Ireland.
http://hetq.am/eng/news/24311/how-invalid-votes-can-become-valid.html