Today Stepan Safaryan, the Heritage Party secretary general and a former candidate for MP nominated in no. 1 electoral district, will file a petition in the Constitutional Court challenging the results of the additional election for MP in no. 1 electoral district. www.aravot.am inquired during a conversation with him what he demanded and what expectations he had from the Constitutional Court.
Mr. Safaryan replied: “I expect the Constitutional Court to express its position regarding the issues I have raised. It is essential to know whether after the commentaries of the Central Election Commission (CEC), the Constitutional Court will repeat them or not. However, to me, it will be a litmus test of what one can expect from the upcoming presidential election, since they are equally important for both describing what happened in no. 1 electoral district and ruling out – or, the other way around, encouraging – those things in the presidential election. If the Constitutional Court reaffirms the position taken by the CEC on my complaint, one can wash his hands and say that elections are over in Armenia. And if it attributes the commentaries of the CEC to campaign headquarters, abuse of administrative resources, the candidate’s resources, I am sure to succeed in the international institutions. What the CEC did and what government bodies do in Armenia are quite the opposite of the obligations undertaken by the Republic of Armenia to the international organizations. Therefore, I am 99% sure that I will win in the European Court. My petition filed in the Constitutional Court stems exceptionally from their position, assessments and standards.”
We inquired what hopes S. Safaryan pinned on the presidential election going through the pre-election, election and post-election crucible. He noted: “I want to make contribution to the presidential election, in order that the pro-government candidate doesn’t open countless headquarters, and the CEC doesn’t say that he has a right to do that. I want the activities of the state apparatus to be properly described, in order that next time the use of the administrative apparatus or resource is reduced to the minimum. I want what happened in no. 1 electoral district to be described adequately. I cannot have great expectations from the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, judging from the results the former petitioners achieved. However, taking into account at least the technicalities, I must exhaust all domestic remedies.”
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
