Election officials said a final count showed Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian with nearly 53 percent of the vote — enough to win outright and avoid a runoff. His main opponent, Levon Ter-Petrosian, had 21.5 percent.Enough. Stop wasting your time. Serge had definite advantages going in, the election was relatively fair, and Levon lost. Advice to future candidates: don't make a surprise entry and expect the vast majority to take your side instantly.
Monitors for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said there were concerns about the vote count, but issued a generally positive assessment of the election. And Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country enjoys close ties with Armenia, congratulated Sarkisian on his victory.
"I would like to assure you that no one will be able to stop us from making sure that the rule of law is observed," Ter-Petrosian told cheering supporters.
Mr Sarkisian had gained 52.7% of the vote, with his nearest rival Levon Ter-Petrosian lagging on 21.5%. By early Wednesday, 97.5% of votes had been counted, according to official results given on Armenian public TV. Turnout was estimated at nearly 70% of 2.3m eligible voters.How do you say "bullshit" in Armenian?
But Mr Ter-Petrosian alleges widespread vote-rigging, and has called a rally in the capital, Yerevan. But Mr Ter-Petrosian - a former president - surprised onlookers with a lively and outspoken campaign, and now insists he is the real winner.
In an address on state television on Thursday, Mr Saakashvili gave in to opposition demands and brought presidential elections forward to January.Something tells me that we haven't see the last of the Georgian stormtroopers.
A day earlier, he had imposed a state of emergency after riot police used force to put down opposition protests in the capital, Tbilisi.
Levon Ter Petrosyan, the former and first president of the Republic of Armenia announced his candidacy to run for becoming the 3rd president of the Republic of Armenia.I'm one of those people. Down with Petrosyan!
This announcement was highly anticipated, but experts doubted that Ter Petrosyan will not run for presidency unless he knows that he can win.
However, his support in Armenia is not widespread because people blame Ter Petrosyan for weak management of the government, the start of wide-spread corruption and for all the misdeeds of today's social life.
Prosperous Armenia is led by Gagik Tsarukyan, the richest person in Armenia and chairman of the national Olympic Committee. Analysts consider it a creation of the authorities as a backup incase of a setback to the Republican Party.Of course, Russia is one of the least democratic countries around, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that they are favoring one party over another. So what happens when both the top choices are evil and undesirable, yet the most powerful and influential?
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was in Armenia last week and expressed the Russian government's support for Sarkasyan. Russia traditionally plays an important role in the internal affairs of Armenia. Several other Russian officials have voiced support for Sarkasyan since then, including Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and head of the Audit Chamber Sergey Stepashin.
Only the residents of the Republic of Armenia will participate on the May 12 parliamentary elections though the RA Government has passed the packet on "Dual Citizenship".This will matter to me on the day that I decide to join the Armenian Army. Otherwise, I don't care and neither should you.
"Dual citizens will not participate in the parliamentary elections as currently we don’t have dual citizens as such".
Justice Minister David Haroutyunyan has decided to participate in the upcoming Parliamentary elections in the list of the Republican party...If he seems familiar, that's because you've seen him before on Armenia's Richest Men list. It really is a Who's Who of corrupt businessmen and politicians.
Its H1 TV channel’s per-minute fee for campaign ads has already been set at 80,000 drams ($220), up from $120 it charged in the run-up to the previous legislative polls. Most of the private networks will charge even more, despite boasting smaller audiences and being less accessible than H1. Their fees start from 100,000 drams ($280) per minute...For our friends in the United States, that's the equivalent of 44 Starbucks Mocha Fraps per minute, or three pairs of hibiscus print Pucci shoes every ten minutes, or a fully loaded Audi A4 every three hours. Oh yeah, factor in that the average Armenian makes a fraction of that every month, and you get the picture.
Leaders of the opposition Artarutyun (Justice) alliance and the National Unity Party claimed that the huge difference is the result of a deliberate government effort to keep the airwaves off limits for Kocharian’s cash-strapped opponents.
Armenian Constitution is up to European standards, Armenian National Assembly's press office quoted Speaker Tigran Torosyan as saying Monday. He pointed out that the amended Constitution allows Armenian citizens to appeal to Constitutional Court. "Constitutional Court has already received 200 appeals, while for the decade of its activity, the court considered only eight", speaker said.I can't claim to be an expert on the Armenian constitution, but you can certainly read what seems like an un-updated version on its official site. Neat, huh?
"The amended Constitution also enabled the parliamentary opposition to appeal to Constitutional Court, and positive decisions on two cases are already made", he said
Torosyan pointed out that as a result of constitutional reformation, progress in justice and local governing systems are already visible, and political system will face changes after coming parliamentary elections.
He also stressed that amended Electoral Code laid favorable ground for holding elections properly.
“While acknowledging the progress made by Armenia towards compliance with its obligations and commitments, in particular since the adoption of the constitutional reform, the Assembly today decided to pursue its monitoring procedure until the current or proposed reforms in the fields of electoral law, the media and the justice system have produced tangible results,” says the resolution adopted January 23 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.The election is very important to Armenians as well as the international community. If it is anything resembling the previous one, our standing will surely take a hit.
“The Assembly expects Armenia to demonstrate its capacity to hold the parliamentary elections in 2007 and the presidential elections in 2008 in accordance with international standards, not least with regard to pluralist, impartial media coverage of the election campaign,” the document says.
Sen. Obama stated that the Armenian Genocide was one of the most horrific tragedies that occurred during the 20th Century by the Turkish Government. He also stressed the importance of working to end the campaign of denial and speaking the truth, which in some instances has unfortunately jeopardized peoples’ careers.The first issue, whether or not you believe his words, is him getting elected. In my humble opinion, he has no chance of winning enough electoral votes to do that, especially because he is black and a certain many states just aren't ready for that.
Ruben Tovmasian [the leader of HKK] said his party received proposals of forming alliances from some opposition forces, but added, " We need not to form alliances as our electorate will not betray us."So not only do they claim 530,000 pensioners, but they are so confident in their said claims that they will disregard any alliance proposals! Do keep in mind that this is most likely the communist propaganda at play. Why? Because in the link above, they had only claimed 40,000 voters and according to 2003 elections, they had just over 18,000 supporters.
Mr. Tovmasian claimed that 530,000 pensioners, "who fought for the Communist Party and continue to trust it, will give their ballots to it. Our ultimate goal is to go to parliament and to present to the Armenian nation our lofty ideas and give it a chance to make their choice," he said.
"I am not saying that Armenia must sacrifice its independence, but we think that a union of all former Soviet republics should be made, void of all previous mistakes," he concluded.
In a first-ever ruling relating to Armenia, the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday declared illegal the arrest of an Armenian opposition activist who helped to organize an anti-government demonstration more than four years ago.With elections just around the corner, it is important for the international community to look back to previous such instances and make sure they never happen again. We can't call ourselves a republic if the expression of free speech is nonexistent.
The plaintiff, Armen Mkrtchian, was detained by the police along with several other members of the radical opposition Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party after actively participating in an unsanctioned rally in Yerevan on May 14, 2002. He was released after being fined a largely symbolic 500 drams ($1.5) under Armenia’s Soviet-era Administrative Code.
Mkrtchian took his case to the Strasbourg-based court in November 2002...A panel of seven European Court judges, among them Armenian Alvina Gyulumian, unanimously accepted the 35-year-old oppositionist’s arguments, ruling that his brief detention violated a key article of the European Convention on Human Rights which takes precedence over all Armenian laws and government directives.
The Armenian authorities used the Administrative Code to arrest hundreds of opposition supporters and activists during the presidential elections of February-March 2003 and the April-May 2004 opposition campaign of street protests against President Robert Kocharian.
