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Yerevan elections: Opposition refuses mandates in City Council

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  • #1

    Yerevan elections: Opposition refuses mandates in City Council

    A new twist in Yerevan elections: Opposition refuses mandates in City Council

    By Gayane Abrahamyan
    ArmeniaNow reporter
    Published: 01 June, 2009

    Citing a “disgraceful” election Armenia’s main opposition declared late on Monday that they refuse to pick their earned mandates in the City Council of Yerevan.

    “The Armenian National Congress is not going to work with these authorities,” A1 Plus quoted opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan as telling his numerous supporters at a rally in downtown Yerevan.

    The official vote results for the May 31 polls announced by the Central Election Commission on Monday showed the Congress getting 17.4 percent of the vote in an election swept by the ruling Republican Party with nearly 48 percent of the vote. Another governing coalition member party, Prosperous Armenia, finished a distant second with 22.7 percent.

    To ArmeniaNow’s request to explain the situation with what will happen in the City Council if the opposition’s decision stands, Hrair Tovmasyan, co-author of the law on Yerevan elections, said the vacated seats would not be filled by the parties standing next, namely Orinats Yerkir or Dashnaktsutyun, both of which failed to overcome the legal vote threshold of 7 percent required for political parties to enter the body.

    “If this is the case, then instead of 65 members, in the next four years the City Council will work with only 52,” Tovmasyan explained. “But had it been a critical majority of seats, the elections would be considered invalid.”


    http://www.armenianow.com/?action=vi...g=eng#comments
    __________________________________________________ ______

    Some comments from the readers....

    IF LEVON IS A GOOD, WHY LOOSING AGAIN?

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------- levon, 2009-06-03 07:32:37


    Levon adds fuel to the fire. He sucked as a president when he banned ARF and made concessions to the Turks. He didn't take a constructive approach when he ran for president for the second time either. He is now crying afoul for failing the mayoral election. A constructive and credible opposition is needed in Armenia but I don't think Levon and his clan represent the credibility nor the honesty we expect from politicians.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------- US Armenian, 2009-06-02 19:24:06



    LTP why don't you go to Israel ???

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    - Krikor, 2009-06-02 17:03:04




    Is there a reason why city mayors along with city council members can't be elected directly by voters?

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacob, 2009-06-02 12:10:50



    Why would Levon - or any nominally sane person - agree to accept fraudulent election results as an admission ticket into a disfunctional government? That would be an implicit acceptance of the current regime's power over the voting process.

    The main raison d'etre of the ANC is the rigged presidential elections - why shoot themselves in the foot by accepting rigged mayoral elections?

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zaven, 2009-06-02 12:06:18



    Levon, just leave Armenia alone..
    What's your point? can't comprehend.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------- chepadian, 2009-06-02 03:06:14


    Good Job Levon. Now you are in the same boat as the ARF. You wasted your constituencies votes and have no representation anywhere!!

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------- sos, 2009-06-02 00:34:36



    Dear Sarkis,

    I can only agree of most of what you saying, but will like to add couple of points,

    The acceptance of taking and receiving bribe is not acceptable and it is up to the people and a society to get that culture going or not.

    Armenians were famous for their dignity and self respect, many of our past generations has seen much and much worst situations economicly. It is not an excuse to continue what it has started.

    Again I accept that we should find solutions but also we should point out the black sides of our society and correct it, to create a Better Nation.

    In order to do that, if needs sacrifices, the massive involvment of the diaspora, Then be It!

    Armenians deserve to have the Better options, a Better society, Better and Strong Country and yes dear Sarkis, the Strongest in the region.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Padoyan, 2009-06-02 00:31:51



    I dislike the current regime. But Armenia desn´t need two presdients!! . Levon was and is not honest to Armenians and to his supporters. Levon wnated just to install a secound government in the city hall! Such a politcal is just criminal and treason as the many actions of ruling authorities!


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------- YES (me-me), 2009-06-01 23:33:33



    to Padoyan,

    trust me when I say that it is much easier said then done. Unfortunately we both must represent our arguements with generic cliché's. You put blame on the Armenian citizens and I ask you if you have been to Armenia before.

    Let us take a step back. You are an Armenian citizen living in Armenia, working as a teacher. As such you make $300 a month (at best). You have a family of four. Then towards the end of exams a student approaches you and offers you a $100 "bribe" for a passing grade (one that he/she doesn't deserve). You will never see this individual again and quite frankly you need the money to support your family. It is a predicament? Why not take the money? because of Honour? Integrity? Look around you, those without such qualities are in the highest positions of power...

    It is not that easy. Lets start offering solutions, I think this is best! I believe that the next front for the diaspora should be Armenia. We should stop publicizing 'romantic' events aimed at repatriation of Armenians, but rather gather with our local Armenian communities behind closed doors. Lets engage in frank and honest conversations, however conspiratorial they may be. How can 'we' gain power in Armenia and make it what it should be. Why not... the strongest country in the region.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sarkis, 2009-06-01 23:08:27
    "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Yerevan elections: Opposition refuses mandates in City Council

    If it was up to me I would hold a new election, you will probably get stronger leadership to face Obama's Turkish-Armenian 'peace+genocide negotiations'* .

    *Or in other words Azeri attempt at a land grab, and Turkish attempt to solidify the denial position of the genocide
    Last edited by hipeter924; 06-03-2009, 07:27 PM.

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Yerevan elections: Opposition refuses mandates in City Council

      The cyclops does not look happy.
      -------------------------------------------------------------------
      First Armenian Oppositionists Freed Under Amnesty


      The first groups of Armenian opposition figures imprisoned following last year’s disputed presidential election were set free on Monday as part of a general amnesty declared by the authorities after more than a year of international pressure. (UPDATED)
      Four of them, including parliament deputies Hakob Hakobian and Miasnik Malkhasian as well as former Foreign Minister Aleksandr Arzumanian, walked free from a Yerevan district court in the morning immediately after the end of their separate trials. They were found guilty of organizing the deadly post-election violence in the capital and sentenced to five years in prison. Suren Sirunian, another opposition activist who was tried together with Arzumanian, got a four-year prison sentence on the same charge.

      Court judges ruled that all four men qualify for the amnesty and ordered their release. The orders prompted rapturous applause and cheers from dozens of opposition supporters that packed the courtrooms.

      Eleven other opposition members, who got prison sentences late last year and early this, were released from Yerevan’s Vartashen prison in the evening. They headed straight to a small public park in the city center to receive a hero’s welcome from opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian and more than two hundred jubilant opposition supporters. Arzumanian and the two opposition deputies also joined the small crowd that repeatedly burst into “Levon!” “Victory!” chants.

      The amnesty initiated by President Serzh Sarkisian and approved by the National Assembly on Friday is expected to lead to the release of at least 34 of more than 50 Ter-Petrosian loyalists remaining in jail more than 15 months after the February 2008 ballot and ensuing unrest. Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK) has condemned the authorities for their refusal to free all individuals regarded as political prisoners by the opposition and human rights groups.


      The oppositionists freed in the court pledged to appeal against the verdicts and seek their acquittal by higher courts. “This verdict is illegal,” said Malkhasian. “We will be demanding my acquittal. I will remain determined till the end.”

      “Thank you all. I’m sure our struggle is only just beginning,” Sirunian said as he and Arzumanian were welcomed by supporters moments later. “I consider this verdict illegal,” he told RFE/RL.

      The four men first met up outside a statue in central Yerevan that was the focal point of a vast area barricaded by thousands of opposition protesters on March 1, 2008. Eight protesters and two police servicemen were killed in subsequent pitched battles.

      They then traveled to Abovian, a town 15 kilometers north of Yerevan where another opposition parliamentarian, Sasun Mikaelian, heard the verdict in his case handed down by a local court. Mikaelian loudly sang patriotic songs and made angry comments as the presiding judge sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment on charges of riot organization and illegal arms possession.

      Under the terms of the amnesty, oppositionists jailed for more than five years are not eligible for early release. That Mikaelian will not be set free was made clear by Justice Minister Gevorg Danielian on Friday.

      The ruling did not seem to take the oppositionist by surprise. “Everything can be expected in this country,” he told RFE/RL as security officials led him out of the courtroom. Mikaelian insisted that the case against him is based on “lies and fabrications.” Dozens of his supporters angrily protested in and outside the Abovian court in the meantime.

      The amnesty, which will affect a total of about 2,000 persons serving prison sentences for various crimes, is widely linked with this week’s session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). The Strasbourg-based body is scheduled to again discuss on Wednesday Armenia’s compliance with its resolutions demanding the immediate release of all opposition members arrested on “seemingly artificial or politically motivated” charges. It has previously threatened to impose sanctions against Yerevan.

      First Armenian Oppositionists Freed Under Amnesty
      http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1759809.html
      The first groups of Armenian opposition figures imprisoned following last year’s disputed presidential election were set free on Monday as part of a general amnesty declared by the authorities after more than a year of international pressure. (UPDATED)
      Azerbaboon: 9.000 Google hits and counting!

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Yerevan elections: Opposition refuses mandates in City Council

        Originally posted by Federate View Post
        The cyclops does not look happy.
        -------------------------------------------------------------------
        First Armenian Oppositionists Freed Under Amnesty


        The first groups of Armenian opposition figures imprisoned following last year’s disputed presidential election were set free on Monday as part of a general amnesty declared by the authorities after more than a year of international pressure. (UPDATED)
        Four of them, including parliament deputies Hakob Hakobian and Miasnik Malkhasian as well as former Foreign Minister Aleksandr Arzumanian, walked free from a Yerevan district court in the morning immediately after the end of their separate trials. They were found guilty of organizing the deadly post-election violence in the capital and sentenced to five years in prison. Suren Sirunian, another opposition activist who was tried together with Arzumanian, got a four-year prison sentence on the same charge.

        Court judges ruled that all four men qualify for the amnesty and ordered their release. The orders prompted rapturous applause and cheers from dozens of opposition supporters that packed the courtrooms.

        Eleven other opposition members, who got prison sentences late last year and early this, were released from Yerevan’s Vartashen prison in the evening. They headed straight to a small public park in the city center to receive a hero’s welcome from opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian and more than two hundred jubilant opposition supporters. Arzumanian and the two opposition deputies also joined the small crowd that repeatedly burst into “Levon!” “Victory!” chants.

        The amnesty initiated by President Serzh Sarkisian and approved by the National Assembly on Friday is expected to lead to the release of at least 34 of more than 50 Ter-Petrosian loyalists remaining in jail more than 15 months after the February 2008 ballot and ensuing unrest. Ter-Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (HAK) has condemned the authorities for their refusal to free all individuals regarded as political prisoners by the opposition and human rights groups.


        The oppositionists freed in the court pledged to appeal against the verdicts and seek their acquittal by higher courts. “This verdict is illegal,” said Malkhasian. “We will be demanding my acquittal. I will remain determined till the end.”

        “Thank you all. I’m sure our struggle is only just beginning,” Sirunian said as he and Arzumanian were welcomed by supporters moments later. “I consider this verdict illegal,” he told RFE/RL.

        The four men first met up outside a statue in central Yerevan that was the focal point of a vast area barricaded by thousands of opposition protesters on March 1, 2008. Eight protesters and two police servicemen were killed in subsequent pitched battles.

        They then traveled to Abovian, a town 15 kilometers north of Yerevan where another opposition parliamentarian, Sasun Mikaelian, heard the verdict in his case handed down by a local court. Mikaelian loudly sang patriotic songs and made angry comments as the presiding judge sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment on charges of riot organization and illegal arms possession.

        Under the terms of the amnesty, oppositionists jailed for more than five years are not eligible for early release. That Mikaelian will not be set free was made clear by Justice Minister Gevorg Danielian on Friday.

        The ruling did not seem to take the oppositionist by surprise. “Everything can be expected in this country,” he told RFE/RL as security officials led him out of the courtroom. Mikaelian insisted that the case against him is based on “lies and fabrications.” Dozens of his supporters angrily protested in and outside the Abovian court in the meantime.

        The amnesty, which will affect a total of about 2,000 persons serving prison sentences for various crimes, is widely linked with this week’s session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). The Strasbourg-based body is scheduled to again discuss on Wednesday Armenia’s compliance with its resolutions demanding the immediate release of all opposition members arrested on “seemingly artificial or politically motivated” charges. It has previously threatened to impose sanctions against Yerevan.

        http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1759809.html
        Why should he his plan is falling apart and now people will see the government in a better light.

        Comment

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