Author: Zakarian Garnik

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Feb. 26 2008

OSCE Head Discusses Post-Election Unrest In Armenia

By Ruben Meloyan

The chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe met Armenia’s top government and opposition
leaders on Tuesday to discuss mounting tensions in the country in the
wake of last week’s presidential election.

Outgoing President Robert Kocharian’s office said Finland’s Foreign
Minister Ilkka Kanerva praised the Armenian authorities for showing
`restraint’ in dealing with opposition protesters challenging the
official election results. `He expressed confidence that Armenia’s
authorities will continue to display prudence and will act with
methods accepted in civilized countries,’ it said in a statement.

A separate statement by the Armenian government said Kanerva `warmly
congratulated’ Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian on his victory in the
February 19 election which was formally declared by the Central
Election Commission on Sunday. Sarkisian was quoted as praising the
work of some 400 representatives of the OSCE, the Council of Europe
and the European Union who monitored the vote.

The observers concluded in their preliminary report that the vote was
administered `mostly in accordance’ with democratic standards.

Kanerva endorsed this assessment at a joint news conference with
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian. But he noted that the observers
also reported voting irregularities and serious problems during the
counting of ballots.

`The report contains positive and critical elements,’ Kanerva said.
`One needs to keep in mind both of those dimensions in that
preliminary report. Legal complaints against the electoral process
must be fully investigated. That’s more than natural.’

Kanerva added that the observers’ final report, due to be issued by
mid-April, therefore `will not be quite clean.’ `But even if it’s not
clean, it doesn’t mean that everything has failed,’ he said. `So this
is a positive steps towards functioning democracy. It will take time,
it will take some elections.’

Later in the day, Kanerva met with former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian, Sarkisian’s main challenger who has rejected the
official results as fraudulent. The Finnish official called the
meeting `very informative’ but did not give details.

SLOVAK MINISTERS VISIT ARMENIA

Panorama.am
15:28 25/02/2008

Slovak ministers of education, culture and justice visit Armenia within
this year. Today Vardan Oskanyan the minister of foreign affairs of
RA and Jan Kubis the president of ministers’ committee of the Council
of Europe had a meeting.

After the meeting they held a press conference. The Slovak minister
said that the mission of those visits is to strengthen the bilateral
relations and make them more dynamic.

According to Vardan Oskanyan, during the meeting they discussed
Armenian presidential elections, created situation, NKR regulation,
Armenia-EU relations.

NEWLY APPOINTED AMBASSADOR OF MEXICO VISITS FOREIGN MINISTRY OF ARMENIA

Panorama.am
21:25 25/02/2008

The newly appointed ambassador of Mexico, Alfredo Peres Bravo,
handed the copies of his credentials to Armenian foreign minister,
Vartan Oskanyan today.

Armenian foreign ministry press and information department reports
that Oskanyan wished success to the ambassador voicing his hope that
Armenian-Mexican relations will boost during the term of his tenure
in office. The parties attached importance to more active dialogue
in the political realm and to the elaboration of the legal field.

LAW ENFORCERS REQUIRED TER-PETRSOYAN’S GUARDS TO LAY DOWN ARMS

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.02.2008 19:52 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During a rally at Liberty Square on Monday,
Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan stated that his law
enforcers required his guards to lay down arms.

"This demand will not be fulfilled, since the law allows me to
have armed guards. Let them change the law and we will obey it,"
Ter-Petrsoyan said.

Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
Feb. 25, 2008

Council of Europe urges calm in Armenia election protests
(AFP)

25 February 2008

YEREVAN – A Council of Europe diplomat on Monday urged Armenian
authorities and thousands of demonstrators camped in the capital
Yerevan for a sixth straight day to refrain from violence.

Slovak Foreign Minister Jan Kubis, representing the Council of
Europe, told journalists after meeting Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian, that ?violence is something that must be avoided at
all costs.?

?I hope very much there will be no escalation,? he said.

Several thousand opposition supporters gathered by early afternoon
Monday on Freedom Square outside Yerevan?s opera house to demand the
result of the February 19 presidential election be overturned.

Between 20,000 and 30,000 supporters of opposition leader and former
president Levon Ter-Petrosian had rallied for the previous five days
after official results gave victory to Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian.

Kubis said he was ?very glad there is a place for this kind of
manifestation? and praised the government for ?acting in a
responsible way, with restraint.?

The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe has 47 member states and
upholds democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

SERGE SARGSIAN ELECTED THIRD PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA AS A RESULT OF FEBRUARY 19 ELECTIONS

Noyan Tapan
Feb 24, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. Summarizing the results of the
February 19 presidential elections, the RA Central Electoral Commission
(CEC) on February 24, at 6:20 p.m. made a unanimous decision that
the Armenian prime minister, the chairman of the Republican Party of
Armenia Serge Sargsian has been elected as president of the Republic
of Armenia.

CEC members – representatives of "Orinats Yerkir" and "Zharangutyun"
parties were not present at the sitting. To recap, they did not
attend the February 20 sitting of the CEC either when the preliminary
results of the elections were summarized. As on February 20, during
the February 24 summarizing of the final results of the election,
the uilding of the CEC and the area adjacent to it were under control
of law enforcers.

6 out of the 8 CEC members (including the ARF representative Hamlet
Abrahamian who, as previously, expressed a special opinion) signed the
report on the election results. In the special opinion presented by H.

Abrahamian during the signing of the preliminary results of the vote
in the presidential elections of February 19, 2008, it is indicated
that the violations of the voting procedure in electoral districts No
7, 8, 13 and 17, "as well as electoral bribes, acts of violence and
defects that took root as long ago as 1995 and are still continuing"
made him to form "an opinion that the electoral system in the RA is
need of serious and radical changes".

According to the CEC report, 1,671,027 voters participated in the
voting. 2 mln 390 thousand voting papers were allocated to the local
electoral commissions, 720,303 of which were cancelled. The number
of the used voting-paper knobs made 1,669,678, the number of the
envelopes in the ballot-boxes made 1,667,995. 35,798 voting papers
were recognized as invalid, 1,632,666 voting papers were recognized
as valid.

The votes given to the candidates distributed as follows:

Artur Baghdasarian – 272,427 (or 16.69% of the number of votes given
to all the candidates)

Artashes Geghamian – 7,524 (0.46%)

Tigran Karapetian – 9,792 (0.6%)

Aram Harutyunian – 2,892 (0.18%)

Vahan Hovhannisian – 100,966 (6.18%)

Vazgen Manukian – 21,075 (1.29%)

Arman Melikian – 4,399 (0.27%)

Serge Sargsian – 862,369 (52,82%)

Levon Ter-Petrosian – 351,222 (21.51%)

The number of inaccuracies made 6,720.

ALL THE STEPS ARE PROGRESSIVE AFTER 1996

Hayots Ashkhar
Published on February 22, 2008

GEVORG HARUTYUNYAN

Interview with the Chairman of the National Democratic Party Shavarsh
Kocharyan.

`Mr. Kocharyan the presidential elections were estimated by all the
foreign observers as an evident progress in the path of democracy. Do
you agree with this estimation?’

` The brief evaluations of the observers were impartial and actual,
because progress is really visible. But the political powers of
Armenia, the parties and each citizen must be more demanding about the
organization and process of the elections, than any international
observer.

The positive estimation of the four European delegations and CIS
observers, conducting an observation mission in Armenia, as a step
towards democracy, is really acceptable and comprehensible.

After 1996, in every new election we are trying to make another step
towards democracy but people are fairly disapproved of the election
returns.

The reason is quite clear. The thing is, after 1996 the level of the
elections had such an unprecedented crash that every election following
it leaves far from the level of democracy that we really deserve,
though we have recorded progress during those elections.’

`The observation mission was also concerned about the mistrust of the
people towards the elections. Who do you think the voters don’t trust,
themselves or the candidate they vote for?’

`The thing is, in 1990-ies people considered themselves the owners of
their country and used to freely express their will. But later, they
became more and more disappointed, because the President and the
Parliament they elected deeply disappointed them. And it was not a
matter of one two days. The culmination was the Presidential elections
of 1996, when they simply violated and ignored people’s will. The tanks
confirmed the falsification of the election returns. Seeing all this,
the people lost their confidence, but now they are trying to recover it
step by step.’

`To what extent are the speculations of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s
supporters justified?’

`The process of cheating and exploiting the people continues. If they
possess any facts regarding falsifications they can appeal to the
Constitutional Court or other court instances. But they never do it,
thus closing the path to the European Court. If they really have facts
why they don’t use these opportunities?

They have chosen the method of street rallies. It is their right. But
they must understand one thing – we are not on the level of 1996. And
the progress of the previous years allows everyone to freely express
his or her disagreement. And they are not afraid that the tanks will
close their way.

Anyhow the political powers can continue their struggle up to the
moment they breach the law or the constitutional order.

At the moment the government in power faces a really serious test. Will
they manage to overcome it in a civilized way? There are all the
pre-conditions for it. Because as we see the authorities are rather
reserved towards the provocations. If they try to infringe the law, the
constitutional order must be maintained by all the legal methods.

The struggle must be unlimited when they take the power by force. This
happened in 1996 and everyone knows about it, the people, the
government in power, and international community. At the moment the
picture is different, they are trying to come to power, but not by
means of elections, which, in my opinion, is intolerable.’

PanARMENIAN.Net

Demonstrators heading for of Council of Public TV &
Radio Company premises
23.02.2008 16:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Demonstrators launched a march
toward the premises of the Council of Public TV &
Radio Company premises. As a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter
said from the scene of action, the entrance of the
building is cordoned by police.

The protesters are planning to hand the demands of the
opposition to the administration Council of Public TV
& Radio Company.

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION WARNED TO KEEP PROTESTS LAWFUL

o&article=471425&lng=1
22 February 2008

Opposition protests in the capital of Armenia are expected to continue
for a third day. The participants overnight seemed to be having a fine
time. But they have been warned by the authorities to stay within the
law. They insist they will not leave Erevan’s Liberty Square until the
victory of Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan in a presidential election
is overturned.

Former President Levon Ter Petrosyan said: "We’ll stay here for as long
as it takes, until the final victory. Everything we do is legal. We
will not allow any violations of the law. We will prove that law can
prevail in this country."

Western election monitors said the vote on Tuesday was broadly
fair. Armenia is watched closely as potential energy supply transit
territory.

Official results gave Sarkysan just under 53 percent of the vote.

Sarkysan said: "We"ll need to persuade (the opposition protesters)
not to violate law and order, not to violate others’ rights. But if
they do, then the law-enforcement bodies will need to restore it."

The protesters complain the election was rigged.

VAHAN HOVHANNISIAN RESIGNS

A1+
22 February, 2008

Dear compatriots,

I apply to you as a RA presidential candidate. During the election
race I have only employed political methods based on ideological and
moral values.

I have shared no effort to carry on a struggle in the realms of
political constructive debates. I simply did my best to assure our
people that it is possible to gain a victory. But I failed.

An atmosphere of intolerance, hatred, intimidation and threats reigned
throughout the whole campaign.

Obviously, it left its stigma on the election outcome.

Numerous irregularities, large-scale bribery, violations at polling
stations, ballot stuffing strengthen people’s distrust and doubt
towards elections.

Once more they confined people’s right to expression, political
will-power and violated our civilians’ dignity.

The Supreme Board of the ARC Dashnaktsutiun studies reports submitted
by the RA marzes and polling stations. We shall make an assessment
and issue a relevant statement after a thorough study of all reports.

Nevertheless, I have made a decision. I am going to resign from the
post of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.

I am grateful to all those who voted for me and believed in me. I
thank all those who voted frankly and were not lured by bribes. Once
more I thank my ARFD companions, my supporters and our team as their
devotion, confidence and belief cheered me up.

I call for restraint and resolve.

I wish success to all my contenders and wisdom and resoluteness to
Armenia’s next president. I wish him to make reforms in the country. I
wish the authorities no longer employed administrative resources. I
wish they gained the vote of confidence of public and political forces.

Dear, compatriots, I call on you not to give in or become
disappointed. Ours is a lasting struggle.