May 14, 2007

Heritage’s Election Surprise

Yerevan—Heritage continues to receive correspondences of congratulation from thousands of Armenian citizens. Both the process of the elections and the final results (which registered 6 percent in our favor), however, are not satisfactory. And though the parliamentary elections of May 12 improved on past elections, they still did not correspond to international standards and—more importantly—the standards of our national dignity. When, in short order, the people of Armenia come to power, such shameful elections will not be condoned.

Both the pre-election campaign season and election day were escorted by countless substantive violations of law and democratic criteria. The results registered in some areas (specifically outer villages), which showed a 90-99% allegiance to a given political party, leave much room for concern. When compared with the enormous success Heritage enjoyed in Yerevan, most often registering first- and second-place victories in the capital’s precincts, these outcomes are especially troubling. The concerns are corroborated by hundreds of reports of violation that poured in from Heritage’s observers all throughout election night. A sampling of these can be read at www.heritage.am. Yet before the elections themselves were conducted, deliberately unfair conditions were established to favor those who established them: the ruling authorities. The television monitoring of the National Citizens’ Initiative clearly concluded that access to the airwaves was severely limited to opposition parties, while the establishment parties enjoyed direct contact with millions of voters. The total TV blockade on Heritage, which lasted a year and a half prior to the arrival of international observers before the campaign season, was quickly reinstated. Apparently disturbed by the party’s high rating, the H1 public television channel simply pretended that Heritage did not exist; from May 4 to May 12, the most vital week of the campaign period, the party’s successful town hall meetings and key announcements were not covered. When combined with the authorities’ blanket refusal to provide Heritage with billboard space and the authorities’ disrespect for campaign spending limits, the unequal conditions proved complicit in the elections’ disgraceful execution.

Tomorrow, May 15, the Forum Club will host the Heritage Party’s first post-election press briefing. Raffi K. Hovannisian, Larisa Alaverdian, and Heritage media spokesman Hovsep Khurshudian will answer the media’s questions at the Yerevan Hotel at 13.00.