ARMENIA: QUESTIONS CONTINUE ABOUT ELECTIONS
Marianna Grigoryan
EurasiaNet, NY
June 4 2007
Nearly a month after Armenia’s May 12 parliamentary elections,
dissatisfaction with the vote among opposition parties and local
election monitors shows no sign of abating. Four opposition groups
have called for fresh elections, while a prominent non-governmental
organization has questioned the campaign finance practices of two
major pro-government parties.
On June 1, Armenia’s Constitutional Court began to consider petitions
from the opposition Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) Party, the New
Times Party, the Republic Party and the Impeachment bloc to throw
out the party-list results from the country’s May 12 parliamentary
vote and hold new elections. [For details see the EurasiaNet special
feature Armenia: Vote 2007].
"There were large-scale falsifications and serious cases of abuse,"
New Times Party leader Aram Karapetian told a press conference on
May 31. "If the Constitutional Court is unbiased, the results of
the elections will be considered invalid." The official results gave
the ruling Republican Party of Armenia a clean sweep of the polls;
only two opposition parties — one of them, Orinats Yerkir — managed
to win seats in parliament. [For details see the EurasiaNet special
feature Armenia: Vote 2007].
So far, little public information has been released about the Court’s
deliberations. On June 2, the Court’s nine judges gave the government
three days to provide information about Armenians who were outside of
the country on election day. The opposition petitioners have submitted
that these citizens’ names were used in an alleged attempt to rig
the election results. (Voting outside of Armenia is not permitted).
Popular expectations, however, are low that the Constitutional Court
will agree with the arguments made in the petitioners’ 230-page
report. Since the country gained independence in 1991, the Court has
rarely ruled against the government.
Meanwhile, one local non-government organization is taking
issue with another aspect of the parliamentary vote — campaign
finance. The pro-government Republican Party of Armenia and Prosperous
Armenia Party spent far in excess of the 60 million drams (about
$167,131) allowed for election campaigns, the Center for Regional
Development/Transparency International Armenia charged at a May
31 press conference. Under the law, parties which do not adhere to
campaign finance regulations can have their registrations suspended.
Based on monitoring done in three cities (Yerevan, Gyumri and
Vanadzor) between November 2006 and May 2007, the center found that
the Republican Party spent an estimated 79.1 million drams (about
$226,810) on its campaign, while the Prosperous Armenia Party, headed
by oligarch Gagik Tsarukian, spent an estimated 129.6 million drams
(about $371,613). [The monitoring was supported by the Open Society
Institute Assistance Foundation — Armenia, which, like EurasiaNet.org,
is part of the Soros Foundations Network].
The three other parties that won seats in parliament complied
with limits on campaign spending, according to the findings. The
pro-government Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun)
spent 50.7 million drams (about $145,376), while the opposition
Orinats Yerkir and Heritage parties spent 33.1 million (about $94,910),
and 24 million drams (about $68,817), respectively.
Amalia Kostanian, chairwoman of the CRD/Transparency International
Armenia, called the calculations "very delicate," with "only official
tariffs" or "minimal prices" used to total likely expenditures. Some
expenses were ignored, Kostanian said. Armenian singers who said they
had performed for free at lavish campaign concerts staged by both
the Republican and Prosperous Armenia Parties were taken at their
word, as were party statements about donations of transportation and
various forms of logistical support. [For details, see the Armenia:
Vote 2007 Photo Digest archive].
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has denied that the Republican
Party of Armenia or Prosperous Armenia Party overspent on their
campaigns. "The CEC has a surveillance service that controls the
process and we haven’t registered any deviation," said spokeswoman
Tsovinar Khachatrian. "Different organizations can state what they
want."
The Republican Party of Armenia officially states that it spent
about 58.9 million drams (roughly $168,888) on its campaign, while
Prosperous Armenia has reported a little over 40 million drams (about
$114,695) spent.
Considerable controversy has also surrounded the use of so-called
"hidden" advertising. Kostanian charged that ads touting the 15th
anniversary of the formation of the Armenian army were used to
encourage support for Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, head of the
Republican Party, who served as defense minister until late March.
Potato seeds, free medical care and ambulances given away by the Gagik
Tsarukian Benevolent Foundation, an organization run by Prosperous
Armenia Party head Gagik Tsarukian, also attracted criticism.
But Prosperous Armenia spokesperson Baghdasar Mherian dismissed the
contention that the donations had a political aim. "An ambulance
cannot be considered part of the election campaign," Mherian said.
"Let’s say it could be considered an election bribe, but it is not
that, either." The donation of an ambulance "just coincided with the
election campaign" and was made in response to a request to Tsarukian
in 2006, he added.
A representative from the Republican Party’s office in Yerevan also
stressed that its campaign spending had occurred "within the limits
of the law."
The Center for Regional Development/Transparency International Armenia
charges that the election code’s failure to regulate third-party
expenditures has allowed political parties to bypass campaign finance
restrictions. Kostanian has called on Armenians "for our own sake"
to use the run-up to next year’s presidential elections to press for
greater vigilance in detecting possible election code violations.
The Central Election Commission, however, is not convinced. "These
are independent observations," commented Ara Harutiunian, head of the
CEC’s campaign monitoring unit. "We have checked everything we could
within the limits of our control. Maybe they have other sources that
we don’t."
Editor’s Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a reporter for the online
independent ArmeniaNow weekly in Yerevan.