Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian National Congress (HAK) activists on Sunday recalled the Feb. 19, 2008 presidential election by marching through the streets of Yerevan and distributing “banknotes,” drawing attention to the practice of buying votes.
The banknotes were replicas of the 5,000 Armenian dram note; however, Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan’s image was replaced with the image of a bearded Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. According to the young activists, they wanted to show that the presidential election 4 years ago was rigged and that even today, votes can be bought (referring to the Feb. 12 mayoral elections in Hrazdan in which residents claimed 5,000 drams were handed out to those who voted).
Image (above) used with permission and retrieved from Sevak Kirakosyan’s Facebook page
“Many passers-by were humored; there were people who considered 5,000 to be too little, while others refused to sell their vote. Armenia can no longer have another fraudulent election; this is already an issue of our existence, our independence, and this time we have to be responsible for our vote at all costs,” said one of the young activists, Areg Gevorgyan, speaking to Epress.am and referring to the upcoming parliamentary election.
