Yerevan―On February 18, 2013, Armenia held Presidential elections. The next day, the Central Election Commission announced the primary results, which do not reflect the voters’ will. According to the CEC, Raffi Hovannisian received 37% of the votes, to Serzh Sargsyan’s 58%. Even according to CEC numbers, Serzh Sargsyan lost in most of urban polling stations. His overall win seems to have been secured by some rural areas that registered more than 90% voter turnout, of which 90% of the votes were in favor of Serzh Sargsyan.
While there are dozens of examples, here are two illustrative ones. In Abovyan, Serzh Sargsyan lost the vote in 21 precincts out of total 25, but recieved 1101 votes from just one polling station (while his average for the other 24 polling stations is 231 votes) which seem to have compensated for the loss from the other polling stations. In Etchmiadzin, Serzh Sargsyan lost in 19 out of 22 polling stations, but received more than 96% of the votes in neighboring Aygek village – 26 to 758 to his favor. It is inexplicable how a candidate registering similar results in 90% of polling stations, suddenly receives several times more in the remaining 10%.
These and similar results were achieved in no other means but falsification of the voting lists and ballots in 10-20% of the polling stations. This can be proved by disclosing the lists with voters’ signatures and ballots, something that could significantly impact the election results and which would be sufficient grounds to invalidate the election results. Appropriate legal steps are being taken to that end.
While deeply regretting the mentioned 10-20% of polling stations where the Heritage representatives underwent pressures and sometimes failed to resist, we nonetheless honor and thank the vast majority of our Precinct Electoral Commission members in more than 1900 precincts as well as the 800 proxies for the work they did. Many of them who came to Hovannisian’s campaign headquarters through the the election night or called to tell just one word, ‘We won,’ did their work. It is because of their work that despite all the fraud and threats, Raffi Hovannisian’s victory was registered in many cities.
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We thank the Armenian voters who rejected the calls for boycott and overcame apathy, and displayed a true spirit of political activism by refusing the incumbent regime, and electing Raffi Hovannisian as the next President of Armenia. Raffi Hovannisian received more votes than any other oppositional candidate in the last fifteen years. This mandate puts the onus of unification onto the rest of the political opposition to help secure the people’s choice.
Heritage Party Press Service
