Experts: Armenia’s presidential elections rigged
Baku, February 21 (AZERTAC). On February 21, the international press center "Ria Novosti" hosted the 25th meeting of Political Science and Debate Club "South Caucasus" on topic: "The results of the presidential elections in Armenia: implications for the region." Azerbaijani experts Fikret Sadikhov, Rasim Agaev, Tofig Abbasov and Elkhan Shahinoglu were among the participants of the meeting.
The meeting discussed such issues as the situation in Armenia after the elections, the impact of Armenia’s elections on other countries in the region.
The experts claimed that the elections were rigged and were conducted in totally undemocratic atmosphere. According to experts, there had been a large number of disorders during the elections: evidence of bribery, coercion, etc. But for some reason, observers kept silent, it is an obvious fact of double standards. Experts said there will not be any major changes in the Karabakh problem, as Sargsyan, as before, is not interested in its resolution.
About 5,000 flag-waving protesters rallied on Wednesday against Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's re-election, saying his victory was tainted by fraud.
Supporters of Sargsyan's second-placed rival Raffi Hovannisian filled Freedom Square in the center of the capital Yerevan to condemn what they said were uncounted ballots and other violations.
Many of Hovannisian's supporters vowed to continue their protests until Sargsyan quits, but the crowd dispersed quietly after three hours and there was no violence.
Some protesters said they would gather again in the square on Thursday.
Hovannisian did not make clear whether he would formally challenge the result of Monday's election, which showed Sargsyan won 58.6 percent of votes, far ahead of Hovannisian, a U.S.-born former foreign minister, on nearly 37 percent.
International observers found an improvement in the conduct of the election compared to the last presidential vote in 2008 but said the vote lacked real competition.
Some of Sargsyan's most popular political rivals did not take part, saying the vote would be skewed in his favor. Police said they had received reports of voting irregularities which they were looking into.
Hayrabet Hovannisian, a musician who joined the protest on Wednesday, said he voted for a different opposition candidate but wanted to show his anger over the allegations of fraud.
Foreign governments and investors fret at any hint of violence in the country of 3.2 million in the South Caucasus because it lies in a volatile region that carries Caspian oil and natural gas to Europe.
Landlocked Armenia's relations are tense with neighboring Azerbaijan over the mountainous enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is inside Azeri territory but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since a war in the 1990s.
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