Epress.am News from Armenia
According to the results made public at 7 am this morning by Armenia’s Central Election Commission, incumbent Republican Aram Danielyan beat opposition candidate Sasun Mikaelyan, by 1,573 votes in Sunday’s mayoral race in the city of Hrazdan. Danielyan gathered 13,079 votes and won in 27 polling stations; Mikaelyan, 11,506 votes and won in 3.
The polls, which opened at 8 am and closed at 8 pm, drew a high voter turnout — 25,395 out of 43,874 registered voters (57.9%) went to the polls in Armenia’s 5th largest city on Feb. 12.
Epress.am correspondents visited more than half the polls, recording and monitoring activity. Armenian police said the elections were relatively calm, except for two cases for which they received complaints and which are under investigation.
Danielyan, a Republican Party of Armenia member, issued a statement yesterday in which he blamed journalists and his opponent’s campaign team for several violations:
“On Feb. 12, a correspondent with Joghovurd daily paper stole from Hrazdan mayoral candidate Aram Danielyan’s office personal documents (proxies).
“There is overcrowding in the area adjacent to the two polling stations at candidate Sasun Mikaelyan’s native Vanatur district, which violates the requirements of the Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia.”
“Many representatives of opposition media in the city of Hrazdan at this moment are engaged in directly interfering with the elections and are exceeding their functions [overstepping their boundaries].
“In polling station 25/19, one of Sasun Mikaelyan’s supporters attempted to vote with someone else’s passport, which was prevented by Aram Danielyan’s proxy.
“There are still Sasun Mikaelyan’s election campaign signs, and his photo is posted up on his central election headquarters with a slogan, which are considered campaign materials; [thus, he is] campaigning,” reads the statement.
Earlier yesterday evening, a video was uploaded on a blog created specifically for this year’s Hrazdan mayoral elections (at hrazdanyntrutiunner2012.blogspot.com) which depicted a woman complaining that 5,000 drams (about $13 USD) was being given to residents to vote, “but not to me — I have two children.”
She had simply come to find out why money was being given to voters, but not to her. “If it’s equality, then distribute it equally,” she said.
Asked who she was asked to vote for, she said she wasn’t asked to vote for anyone in particular but simply to vote. “We don’t vote based on what someone else tells us,” she said, adding, however, that Danielyan is a good mayor, a good man. “I voted for him twice and I’ve come the third time to vote for him.”
Overall, however, there were few complaints of electoral fraud. In one case, an Epress.am correspondent noticed a couple voting together. When asked why two people are allowed to vote together, the chair of this particular polling station said it was at the voter’s request and within the boundaries of the law.
Note, the Hrazdan elections were widely regarded as a test for the upcoming May parliamentary elections.