DECIPHERING THE VOTE: SOME HAPPY, SOME NOT, BUT EXTRAORDINARY BY ANY COUNT
- This winter’s hot election campaign was crowned with a high voter activity on Election Day. About 70 percent of voters turned out, according to the Central Election Commission. While oppositionists now rally to the contrary, authorities have declared that the process was “free and fair” and Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan is due to begin his presidential reign beginning April 9.
“There is a great voter activity, people are interested and are making a choice,” ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov told ArmeniaNow on Election Day. “People are choosing their country’s future, and the RPA, committed to its principles, remains the defender of justice and law.”
Activity was indeed obvious.
Sociometer Sociological Center Director Aharon Adibekyan says that still in early February their surveys proved that the voter turnout would be 69 percent.
“As many as it proved to be in real fact,” Adibekyan said. “It could be assumed that in such a tense situation people would be active.”
Political analyst Aghasi Yenokyan names at least two factors explaining the high activity.
“Participating in the presidential election people thought they could change something with their votes in the critical situation created in the country,” Yenokyan says. “Besides, the tough polarized campaign itself implies mobilization of voters.”
The candidates that engaged in the race – of whom three main ones Serzh Sargsyan, Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Artur Baghdasaryan – according to the CEC’s data, formed the top “troika”, according to analysts, “dragged the electorate towards themselves” with their statements.
“According to our predictions, Baghdasaryan was to be in the second place after Sargsyan, but it turned out that there were more supporters of Ter-Petrosyan, those were people who in the recent years were disillusioned by the authorities and gave their votes to Ter-Petrosyan,” Adibekyan says.
David Hakobyan, 28, disagrees with Adibekyan. He has a good education and a promising job, however says that the candidate of his choice is Ter-Petrosyan.
“During the pre-election campaign, ‘dark and cold years’ were regularly linked with Ter-Petrosyan, however those were years of pride for me,” Hakobyan said. “True, we didn’t have electricity and lived in very difficult conditions, however when I heard on television that Azerbaijan lost the war with Armenia, I live with that pride till today.”
Hakobyan says that on the Election Day television periodically presented to people that we have wonderful elections, but in reality violence and stuffing were being committed which challenges the legitimacy of the election.
“If we judge from television news coverage, we really had very good elections, but it is still unclear to me what country it was about, because in reality different things were happening,” he says.
Syuzan Harutyunyan, 29, is not inclined to believe the opposition’s “lies”.
“Everything was very calm,” Harutyunyan says. “We went to the polling station where there were many voters and we cast our vote without any obstacle, everyone was smiling, and I was smiling too, and as I had planned I cast my vote for Serzh Sargsyan, as he is experienced and has proved that he can work.”
Armen, a supporter of Artur Baghdasaryan, says that from the very beginning he did not believe there would be fair elections.
“People entering our polling station were told to vote for Sargsyan, it was enough for people to understand what was going on,” he says in disappointment. “And one of my acquaintances said that he was offered 5,000 drams (about $16) in an election bribe to elect him. 5,000 drams for five years? Even prostitutes charge more for a few minutes.”
Yerevan resident Marine, 35, says that her employers took her passport before the elections, and on the Election Day she was taken to the polling station by taxi and was told to vote in favor of Sargsyan.
“Of course, I voted for the candidate I wanted, but despite that I told them I voted for the one they wanted,” she says. “However, I don’t think that even in case of pressures people would give so few votes to the opposition.”
Sharmazanov describes the news about election bribes distributed by the RPA as black campaign against their party.
“There was no pressure, and if there were election bribes, they were given and our name was mentioned in order to discredit our candidate, and despite such small provocations, the elections were the best in our history,” he says.
Yerevan resident Arsen Mkrtchyan also agrees with Sharmazanov.
“It was clear from the beginning that the strongest would win, and everyone knows who the strongest is,” he says. “Many are disappointed, however there are always dissatisfied people after elections.”
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ELECTION DAY 11 A.M. PRESIDENT’S PROMISE: THE VOTE WILL BE FAIR
- 1837 Creation of the Armenian Supreme Ecclesiastic Council in Echmiadsin - the Synod attached to the Catholicos of All-Armenians.
- 1909 Birth of Taras Toosoozyan in Yekaterinodar (now Krasnodar). He was a Major-General of the Soviet Army. He was the Military Commissar of the Armenian SSR from 1950 to 1969.
- 1931 The Central Affairs Committee decides to establish a Radio-Broadcasting Committee.
- 1932 Birth of architect Arthur Tarkhanyan in Leninakan (Gyoomree). He designed and implemented the "Tsitsernakabert" Genocide Memorial Complex, the "Airarat" (formerly "Rossiya") movie theater, the Palace of Youth, "Zvartnotss" Airport, and many other buildings.
- 1938 Birth of Artavazd Peleshyan in Leninakan (Gyoomree). He became a famous artist, State Prize Laureate, and a master of the documentary film genre .
- 1939 The Armenian Supreme Soviet awards the right to the Opera and Ballet Theater of Yerevan, to be called the Alexander Spendarian Opera and Ballet Theatre.
- 1960 The Armenian Theater Association in Beirut decides to be known as the Vahram Papazyan Association.
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