The settings were rather different, as you can see from these two videos below:

The day turned a little scary when a couple of dozen opposition supporters taken to the police and the nose of a key oppositionist, Armen Martirosyan’s, was smashed into a bleeding condition in an incident with the police. The rumors about the murder of a young man, which later turned out to be unrelated and news about Raffi Hovannisian losing consciousness amid clashes with the police exacerbated the situation.

In the end, however, the day ended rather peacefully.

Armenia – Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian is greeted by supporters in Yerevan’s Liberty Square, 22Feb2013 | Photolur via Azatutyun.am

On April 9, incumbent Serzh Sarkisian will be sworn in for another term as president of Armenia.

As that happens, Sarkisian’s bested rival, Raffi Hovannisian, will be taking part in his own inauguration — the “inauguration of a new Armenia,” as he says. It’s unclear exactly what the event will be, but the timing is almost certainly no accident.

Hovannisian disputes the results of the February 18 election. He lost to Sarkisian by roughly 20 points, according to official results. He recently ended a two-week hunger strike that he had been holding to protest the election results and demand electoral reforms.

RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Radio Azatutyun) discussed all of these issues and more with Hovannisian in an exclusive Google+ Hangout on the evening of April 7.

Watch a recording of the talk below.

A group of human rights activists, among them recipients of US State Department’s Universal Rights Awards, staged a protest-action in front of the US Embassy in Yerevan to express outrage over US President Barack Obama’s congratulatory message to the Armenian President Serzh Sarkissian for his reelection.

The activists represented most major civil groups in Armenia, including the group fighting for justice in murder of a military doctor in Republican MP Ruben Hairapetian’s “Harsnakar” restaurant (about 4 thousand members),  “The Real Army” group fighting against human rights abuses in the Armenian Army (547 members), environmental groups “Save Teghut” (7458 members) and “Trchkan” (4652 members).

Activists, including Universal Human Rights prize winners Tsovinar Nazarian and Ruzanna Grigoryan, carried banners with slogans: “You have congratulated a fake president” and “Your president should ask Armenia’s people who to congratulate.”

Activists handed a protest letter to an embassy representative.

Ready to Hand Back the Prize

Artur Sakunts, another recipient of the Universal Rights Awards, said he is considering the option of handing back the prize in sign of protest.

“Your congratulation is absolutely inappropriate for these elections, which were accompanied by flagrant fraud and violations,” Sakunts, the Chairman of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office has written in his open letter to the US President.

The human rights activist has also expressed doubts about the value of the award he has received from a government, which is “apparently siding with an oppressor of freedom” and said he is considering returning the prize back.

What’s The Point?

As the world superpowers rushed to congratulate Serzh Sarkissian and international election observation groups gave overly positive assessments of the February 18 presidential vote, Armenian civil society has been very vocal about human rights violations and election irregularities.

Lena Nazaryan reads her statement during the press conference. | Via Armenianweekly.com

The protest action by activist Lena Nazarian during the press-conference of international observers,  Policy Forum Armenia’s report  revealing a mathematical connection with incumbent president Serzh Sarkissian’s wins in polling stations where abnormally high voter turnout was registered, were certainly behind the OSCE/ODIHR’s change of opinion and questioning of Armenian vote results.

PS: I very much hope, that today’s action by the country’s largest civil groups, along with Artur Sakunt’s letter, will have an impact on the international evaluations of Armenian elections. After all, the Armenian authorities went out of their way to turn a pretty face to the outside powers. So why not get serious and demonstrate to the Armenian authorities that tricks of this sort only work in a circus?

U.S. — President Barack Obama (L) greets his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC, 12Apr2010

Armenian President Serzh Sarkissian received congratulatory message from the President of the USA Barack Obama on his reelection, amid doubts about the election process voiced by international observers and human rights watchdogs.

“I would like to congratulate you on your reelection as President of the Republic of Armenia. I look forward to continuing our work together as we both begin our second terms,” Obama wrote.

“We will continue to strongly support progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, which requires meaningful movement toward a settlement that provides lasting peace and security. We also want to continue our work to promote the eventual normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations,” the US President added [emphasis is mine].

Questions and Criticism

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Saturday questioned the credibility of official results of Armenia’s presidential election, saying that President Serzh Sarkisian benefited from “implausibly high” voter turnout recorded in many precincts. The report of the international observers was probably influenced by the Policy Forum Armenia’s very telling findings.

The Armenian authorities have reacted by saying high turnout was recorded in polling stations, which are either very small, or are based in penitentiaries or places, where soldiers are voting.

International human rights watchdog Amnesty International has joined the local Armenian human rights organizations in criticizing Armenia’s election, citing intimidation and threats of use of force against voters and observers, threats against journalists and prevention from carrying out their journalistic duties on the elections day.

PS: As criticism mounts against the Armenian authorities for their handling of the elections, congratulatory letters like Obama’s serve as the main bases for Serzh Sarkissian to legitimize his disputed reelection. So it seems natural that foreign governments go explicit about what they expect of Armenian authorities in the next 5 years.

PS:  Where are the authorities, who are directly responsible for the 10 deaths of March 1? Why don’t they show up and pay tribute?

Raffi Hovannisian hinted that he has a plan and promised to reveal it during a rally on March 2nd, as thousands gathered to listen to him in what was possibly the largest crowd since the opposition presidential candidate announced that he won’t accept the official election results.

On Monder the Central Electoral Commission announced, that the incumbent president Serzh Sarkissian was the winner of the February 18th presidential election with 58.64 percent of the vote, Hovannisian finished in second place with 36.75 percent.

Hovannisian started a respectful, yet determined campaign, denouncing the official polling results and calling on Sarkissian to hand over power. He has held several large rallies not only in Yerevan, but also in Gyumri, Vanadzor, Kapan.

However, his messages at the rallies remain mostly emothional, but lack clarity. Too often he calls the rally and promises to tell more the next day or at the next rally. And when the next day comes, he has very little to offer and people are starting to get tired.

By the end of his less than 10 minute speech today, I could see this feeling of disappointment again.

And as a journalist covering Raffi’s speeches day after day, I am frankly rather bored by now. I hope this is not going to affect my objectivity and clear judgement.

At any rate, I have a feeling that everything I said 9 days ago, after the announcement of preliminary election results are still valid. And that is, frankly speaking, rather sad…

A1plus is presenting this great archive video with lessons of the past about Armenia’s post-election developments. My main takeaway – all past elections have ended in post-election developments, but opposition has never won. However, things are different this time:

Raffi Hovannisian’s main innovations:
1. Staying respectful to the authorities and meeting the incumbent president
2. Going to the regions
3. Motivating students
4. Avoiding direct confrontation.

PS: Despite Raffi’s unwillingness to pick up a fight, tensions are growing and will probably reach their peak on March 1st anniversary of unprecedented violence that left 10 dead in central Yerevan in 2008. I have a feeling that March 1 will be the final deadline, the make it or break it point for this post-election round. And I have a bad feeling about all this…

Armenian President Serzh Sarkissian and Armenian-American singer-songwriter Serj Tankian at a meeting, undated | Source: President.am

Grammy-winning singer/song writer Serj Tankian has sent an open letter to Serzh Sarkissian, expressing doubts that the incumbent president has indeed won in February 18th Presidential elections and calling for the de facto Armenian leader to institute genuine rule of law in the country, punish those, who stole the vote from the people, dissolve the parliament, ensure that genuinely free and fair elections are held and that the government is truly representational. Find the full letter below.

================================================

Dear Mr. President,

Congratulations on your victory.

Victory means getting the most votes, of course, in a democracy.

Based on the overwhelming reported fraud from many NGOs, irrespective of the OSCE report, it seems like it would be scientifically impossible for even you, Mr. President, to know whether you actually won the majority of votes.

That’s quite funny isn’t it? That you, the President of Armenia are not really sure, deep inside, whether you are the true chosen leader of your people or not.

That would really bother me personally. If I wanted to lead my people, I would really want them to make that decision for themselves, because I respect my people and that is their decision to make. Otherwise, I would take over Armenia and call myself the Governor General of Armenia or Dictator du jour or whatever moniker I felt like sporting that day. Maybe your party is out of control and the oligarchs are running out of caviar or something and they want to make sure that the flow of the good times doesn’t stop.

Whatever the case, it is time for change.

Whether you’ve won fairly or not, somehow you are now President, again.

What does that mean to you?

Yes, Artsakh is important to us all and we have to struggle together for our brothers there.

But what I mean is how are you going to progress the cause of Armenians, in Armenia and around the world?

How are you going to help pull the country out of its economic, social, and political dysfunction and turmoil?

Obama at least offers hope, even when he lets us down.

Years ago, I started a campaign asking President Obama to do the right thing and stick by his promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

You too took an oath, to the constitution of Armenia, to protect the country from enemies foreign and domestic. Those who steal elections from my people are domestic enemies that need to be punished.

It should be your duty to enforce that, even if some think it hypocritical. You should also consider dissolving Parliament and being the first Armenian reformist President who goes out of his way to make sure that future elections are fair and representational.

Serzh, everyone who knows me knows that I can’t stand injustice. And like most diasporan Armenians, I have always been reluctant to criticize your government directly and publicly. But the avalanche of people suffering under your rule due to corruption and injustice is tipping the scale for us all.

You need to know that.

Armenia is desperate for the rule of law more than anything else. And no one can be above the law. You can make that happen, now, by example and presidential decree.

Unite us Serzh. Inspire us.

Please take this challenge.

Thank you for your time.

Peace,

Serj Tankian

Hundreds of students skipped classes today in sign of protest against the results of the February 18 presidential elections and in a show of support for the opposition candidate Raffi Hovannisian.

Students from various Yerevan universities and institutes reported attempts by their university management to hinder student participation in the protest action.

The protest started in front of Yerevan State University. Their procession went around various Yerevan universities and ended in front of the Central Electoral Commission.

A protest sign in front of Armenian CEC today. Reads: "Central Electoral Artistic Wrokshop" #armvote13 Love it! http://t.co/4qQhRcTCyK—
Artur Papyan (@ditord) February 25, 2013

I totally loved the picture above. It is common knowledge, that the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) in Armenia is known for manipulating the final figures of the elections, or so to say “painting them” as Armenians often call it. So the sign calling the CEC as “Central State Art Gallery” is rather becoming (and yes, I sort of mistranslated it when tweeting).

Rare Student Activism

The protest was rather small in scope given the fact, that there are tens of thousands of students in Armenia who didn’t join the action.  So in this regard it didn’t accomplish anything.

However, this protest action was very important in its uniqueness.

Over the past decade the incumbent authorities have in a sense ‘infiltrated’ all educational institutions in Armenia and largely spoiled them with a carrot and stick policy.

More specifically, all key Republican figures in Armenia have over the past years become heads of this or that educational institution. The incumbent president Serzh Sarkissian is, for example, the head of the Yerevan State University council, PM Tigran Sargsian is the chairman of Yerevan State Teachers’ Training University, Minister of Education Armen Ashotian is the chairman of  Yerevan State Medical University. In this way key officials have direct control over all major universities.

They have also made sure that Republican youth are heading the student councils, which are these days akin to the Komsomol (the youth wing of Communist party) of Soviet times. These student bodies are meant solely to support the authorities and report on dissent among the ranks of the students. There are, of course, rare exceptions in the form of youth structures of Dashnaktsutyun, Armenian National Congress and Hnchaks, but they are not very influential. Meanwhile, the authorities also have instituted “Baze” camps and certain Youth Foundations and semi-political structures, like Miasin movement, “Hayoc Artsivner,” which are tasked with garnering support for the authorities by providing youth with incentives for supporting the ruling party.

So well done, students, I’m really proud of your courage! I myself have come to Yerevan from Gyumri with fellow-students in 1996 to protest the elections in which Levon Ter-Petrossian stole presidency from Vazgen Manukian, so I’m really happy that after decades of brainwashing, there are still brave young people among students, who are ready to stand up for their rights.

Armenia – Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian is greeted by supporters in Gyumri’s Theatre Square, 23Feb2013 | via Tzitzernak

Preface: I haven’t got a clue as to what’s the right way to lead political struggle, nor do you, neither does Levon…

Barev. I can’t help comparing current situation with the developments of 2008. And mixed ideas spring to mind. Why do we think, that the only correct way is to get stuck in the square day and night and serve as body-count. The opposition was trying to bring as many people as possible from the regions, to boost our numbers at the square, but perhaps it would make sense to hold rallies in the regions? I really like the idea of holding a rally in Gyumri.

When your struggle isn’t attached to a certain location from the onset, you can be more flexible.

What Levon did is counter the Liberty square to the Presidential palace and as a result, he became a captive of the square.

Unlike him, Raffi is using a ‘cloud technology’ approach to the struggle. He has splashed it all over the streets of Yerevan and now he has taken it out from the capital to Ashtarak, Vanadzor, Gyumri. If he continues along those lines, it my turn out in the end, that all of Armenia is Raffi’s space, while Serzh will become constrained to the Presidential palace. This will create a cardinally different situation than in 2008.

I also like the fact, that Raffi is not turning up his nose, but instead is running around, walking, organizing things, meeting people. He is operating in a much more flexible and interactive manner. In a sense, he is employing a Struggle 2.0 approach.

I consider that his meeting with Serzh, for example, gave him an advantage. If the tensions grow now, everyone will see that this is Serzh’s fault, who is not taking any constructive steps and is running away from dialogue.

In the end, all that matters is the result. Who knows, maybe it is indeed possible this way…

About the Author

Mikayel Ghazarian aka Mk.am is a web developer, allergic to dictators.

The original post is here.  Translated by A.P.

Armenia – Opposition leader Raffi Hovannisian is greeted by supporters in Yerevan’s Liberty Square, 22Feb2013 | Photolur via Azatutyun.am

There’s a lot said and done these days in the name of the people of Armenia, to the people of Armenia, for the people of Armenia, with the people of Armenia, regardless the people of Armenia…

The incumbent president Serzh Sarkissian was one of the first to speak about the Armenian people. He thanked the nation for his “good” February 18 election win!?

Then came former foreign minister Raffi Hovhannisian, the runner up in the elections, who said the Armenian people had won. 

Sarkissian, of course, and not surprisingly so, was declared the winner of the presidential election with 58.64 percent of the vote, Hovannisian finished in second place with 36.75 percent.

The name of the Armenian people was mentioned again and again in the days that followed, as dictators big and small, led by Russia’s Vladimir Putin, started congratulating Sarkissian and praising the choice of the Armenian people. Soon after US, EU followed suit.

And than Raffi Hovhannisian met with Serzh Sarkissian and came back from that meeting and spoke to the Armenian people and left them pondering for a whole day as to what on earth Raffi and Serzh had spoken about.

Today Raffi Hovhannisian told a rally of thousands of supporters that he offered Sarkissian to hand over power, or hold new elections, or at least punish those, who forged the elections. All in the name of the Armenian people. And, he said, Sarkissian refused it all.

Parallel People

Armenia — Raffi Hovhannisian’s post-election rally, Yerevan, 22Feb2013 | via Tzitzernak

Meanwhile, the Armenian people are mostly minding their own business, leaving political leaders to their own devices.

What I’m hearing most of the time these days, is that someone voted for Serzh because they had to, or they voted Raffi, because they didn’t want to vote Serzh, or they didn’t go to the polls.

And since, unlike the Armenian people mentioned by Sarkissian, and the other Armenian people mentioned by Hovhannisian, and yet another Armenian people spoken about by Putin and the like, the Real Armenian People I meet on the street tell me, that it was largely a vote “against” Serzh, not  ”for” Raffi, I understand, that many are considering their mission completed and see no need to stand up “for” their “against” votes.

And yet, I haven’t seen the Liberty square full of so many people since Levon Ter-Petrossian’s  rallies of 2011 (5 to 8 thousand estimated).

Parallel Politics

Raffi Hovhannisian is certainly not the kind of politician that Armenians or Armenian politics is used to seeing.

I was incredibly surprised yesterday upon hearing that Hovhannisian had gone over the Presidential palace and met Sarkissian. I’m sure everyone else was.

Today, I’m again increadibly surprised to learn, that Raffi Hovhannisian is not planning to stay in the center of Yerevan and wait for the critical mass of supporters to gather, so the authorities give way to the power of masses, like is the scenariou of Ukrain’s Orange revolution, Georgia’s Rose revolution and recently was Egypt’s Tahrir square revolution. Instead, Hovhannisian is planning to hold a series of rallies in the regions and come back to Yerevan and hold another one here.

Armenia — Dashnakstutyun leader Armen Rustamian and HAK MP Nikol Pashinian at Raffi Hovhannisian’s post-election rally, Yerevan, 22Feb2013 | via Tzitzernak

I still hold the opinion I voiced earlier, that this won’t help and the protest wave will eventually die out. But what if the policy of going to the people just works? I guess there is plenty of logic and a recognition of Hovhannisian’s unorthodox politics behind the earlier decision by Nikol Pashinian and today also ARF-Dashnaktsutyun to support his cause.

PS: No, despite what Dashnaktsutyun says, I don’t think “this movement is unstoppable,” but what if…?

Crowd outside Presidential Palace chanting #Hayastan and #Raffi for President #armvote13 #armenia instagr.am/p/V_SggYyHBx/—
CivilNet.AM (@CivilNetTV) February 21, 2013

President Sarkissian meets opposition challenger Raffi Hovhannisian ow.ly/i/1yGUh #armvote13—
Artur Papyan (@ditord) February 21, 2013

Raffi Hovhannisian. "I'll tell you details of our discussion with Serzh Sarkissian during tomorrow's rally at 17:00" #armvote13—
Artur Papyan (@ditord) February 21, 2013

Hovhannisian urges supporters to disperse after a two-hour-long discussion with Sarkissian in presidential palace #armvote13—
Artur Papyan (@ditord) February 21, 2013

Hovhannisian said they're having "diplomatic meetings" and the ppl will celebrate victory tomorrow #armvote13—
Artur Papyan (@ditord) February 21, 2013

We saw a different, a self-assured Raffi Hovhannisian today during his post-election rally, as he announced his decision to stay in the square and wait for Serzh Sarkissian to come to the Liberty square and hand him over the power.

I’ve got to say, that this would be technically impossible. The real demand should be to hold new elections, in which case Sarkissian would have to hand over the power to Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamian.

The last two days indicate, that Raffi Hovhannisian himself wasn’t expecting such a large percentage of votes and such an enthusiastic support for him, so he was a little taken aback on the 19th, when he invited a press conference in Liberty square. But today he was self-assured and spoke a different language, that of an elected president.

During the rally, Hovannisian signaled his intention to launch a campaign of street protests, urging supporters to brace themselves for a “prolonged struggle.”

However, the presidential candidate was again mostly emotional, but failed to deliver clear signals about the future courses of action as to what and how he is going to do.

Hovhannisian claims victory in February 18 elections, where he won 36.75% of the vote according to the preliminary results released by the Central Election Commission (CEC). The incumbent president received 58.6% of the votes according to the same source.

Meanwhile, there are numerous reports about irregularities, violations, vote rigging, but the international observers are giving favourable 1st assessments, even triggering protests actions by local activists.

Nikol Is Different

Armenia – Opposition leaders Raffi Hovannisian (L) and Nikol Pashinian greet protesters in Yerevan’s Liberty Square, 20Feb2013.

Via RFE/RL, in his speech, Hovannisian also appealed to other opposition forces to join his movement. Some prominent opposition figures rushed to express support for his cause at the rally. Those included Nikol Pashinian, a parliament deputy who played a major role in the 2008 post-election protests staged by another opposition leader, Levon Ter-Petrosian.

“The triumph of the Armenian citizen is unstoppable and the victory of the people inevitable,” Pashinian told the enthusiastic crowd, calling Hovannisian the legitimate election winner

​​But Pashinian cautioned that the success of the movement will depend on Hovannisian’s “determination” and ability to “address the people without puzzles.” “The people of Armenia cannot be led to a defeat or disappointment. Victory or nothing! Victory and nothing else!” declared the outspoken oppositionist.

PS: I confess, I really admire Nikol. The way he electrified the audience, the words he used to address Raffi and more…

Armenia — President Serzh Sarkissian votes in February 18 presidential elections, Yerevan, 18Feb2013

Preliminary data from the Central Election Commission (CEC)  shows that with ballots counted in all 1988 polling stations president Serzh Sarkissian scored a comfortable 58.6% win in Monday’s presidential elections.

The CEC said 60% of about 2,5 million eligible voters went to the polls on February 18th.

Leader of opposition “Heritage” party Raffi Hovhannisian came second with 36.75% of the vote.

Another key opposition candidate, former PM Hrant Bagratian, who had the support of some of the activists from opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) got a humiliating 2.15%.

The opposition candidates have voiced concerns about the official number of  eligible voters, noting that it is inflated by as much as 700 thousand to allow the authorities to manipulate the final voting figures. However, they have not provided reliable data to back their claims so far.

Meanwhile, the authorities focused on the formal side of the elections and got a perfect-looking election process: orderly polling stations, lack of violence against opposition and journalists, freedom of speech on TV during the pre-election campaign, etc.

Armenia — Preliminary election results chart, Yerevan, 19Feb2013

I find it striking, that in a country, where everyone complains about Serzh Sarkissian and his family’s and allies’ dominance on all sphere’s of business, with cost of life growing by the day while people’s incomes don’t, Sarkissian would somehow get a majority vote.

I am convinced, that in these elections Serzh Sarkissian defeated the people, not a political opponent.  I don’t care how this was achieved, be it by dissuading real opponents from contesting the elections, vote buying and employing sophisticated vote-rigging schemes, or even a real squeaky-clean, free and fair election process. I know that these were not the type of elections one should expect from a democratic country. But I have no proof. So I applaud the brilliance with which Sarkissian handled this thing called elections.

Multiple Win for Sarkissian

Armenia — President Serzh Sarkissian votes in February 18 presidential elections, Yerevan, 18Feb2013

The incumbent president Serzh Sarkissian didn’t just win a second term in these elections. A Raffi Hovhannisian collecting a staggering 539672 million votes and landing in second spot bodes well for the incumbent president in a variety of ways.

Sarkissian can point to Hovhannisian’s figures as an indicator of really competitive elections and look good in the eyes of the European partners.

The re-elected president can also count on support from Minsk group co-chair countries (USA, Russia and France), as Hovhannisian’s campaign pledge of recognizing Karabakh’s independence is not just totally pointless, but is also dangerous and destabilizing for the whole region and those country’s interests here. Sarkissian can also use “the half-a-million vote for Hovhannisian” to adopt a harder policy line on Karabakh if needed.

Additionally, Raffi Hovhannisian got about 200,000 more votes than HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrossian did in 2008. This not only humiliates the ‘radical’ opposition HAK, but propells Hovhannisian into the “most influential opposition figure” spot.

I know from conversations with people from Sarkissian’s immediate surroundings, that Hovhannissian is considered a much more ‘convenient’ opponent to Sarkissian, because he is ‘decent’ and despite his seemingly radical rhetoric and hunger-strike-type actions in the past, is not nearly as radical as it seems.

In fact, Hovhanisian was one of the rare opposition politicians who attended Serzh Sarkissian’s inauguration after disputed presidential elections and March 1 violence in 2008.

Looking at The Brighter Side

Armenia can actually benefit from these clean looking elections in a number of ways.

Armenia – Raffi Hovannisian, opposition candidate, at a polling station before casting his vote at the presidential election, Yeravan,18Feb,2013

Following a short period of protest rallies, that are sure to follow, as I’m certain Raffi Hovhannisian will just have to hold a couple of insignificant rallies to calm down his supporters, we will enjoy a prolonged period of political stability with no powerful opposition force to challenge the dominance of Serzh Sarkissian’s Republican party.

The EU will no longer hesitate in giving Armenia benefits promised under its Eastern Partnership program, including enhanced access to the European market, financial assistance. This will help mitigate Russia’s growing grip on the Armenian economy, draw us further away from Putin’s USSR-revival plans.

An added bonus will be in increased freedom of speech in the Armenian media and an overall understanding in the Armenian society, that more civilized polls are possible in this country.

Armenia — Photos of presidential candidates at a polling station ahead of Elections 2013, 17Feb2013 | Photolur photo via Azatutyun.am

Armenia is heading to the polls today. Reluctantly. Everyone I’ve talked to is sure that the incumbent president Serzh Sarkissian is going to win his second term. Yet not one of those people said they’ll vote for Sarkissian…

More importantly, very few people have said they’ll go to the polling stations at all.

“It is all pre-decided anyway,” the vote-sceptics say, “Why bother, go to polls. They will do as they please anyway!”

There have been allegations about attempts to bribe voters, collect passport data to scare voters into thinking that they’ll be tracked… all in favour of Serzh Sarkissian.

The Armenian authorities, however, seem keen on getting a clean vote. They have said this multiple times and have tried to follow suit.

My NGO, Media Diversity Institute – Armenia, has been running a project to compile a crowd-sourced map of election violation reports during the past parliamentary and the ongoing presidential elections. The map is available at the address www.iditord.org. Looking at the map and recalling the dynamics of the past elections, I have to state, that there are 5 times less reports about potential voting irregularities at the moment of writing (106) than we saw during the May 6, 2012 parliamentary elections hours before the polling stations opened.

Given my conversations with neighbours, friends and plain strangers as summarized above, the main intrigue of the elections will be whether enough people will turn out for the vote to be legitimate or will the authorities have to manipulate figures… And also, if enough people do turn up, will anyone vote for Sarkissian to put the pollsters to shame, or will he become president by manipulating figures…

The Layout

Serzh Sarkissian is facing 6 challengers. None of them has a comprehensive pre-election program, not even the two probable runners up Raffi Hovhannisian, a former foreign minister, and Hrant Bagratian, a former prime minister.

Dramatic things happened during this campaign, as a presidential candidate, ex-Soviet dissident Paruyr Hayrikian, was wounded in an apparent assassination attempt and another candidate Vardan Sedrakian, a self-proclaimed specialist of a medieval Armenian saga, appeared to be connected with the self-confessed assassins, who happened to be construction workers with bad inclinations towards drugs and alcohol. The female part of the voters had the chance to try out their maternity instincts as a young, rich and good looking presidential candidate, Andrias Ghukasian, director of “Radio Hay” radio station, went on a hunger strike.

The Logistics

Polling stations open at 8:00 and close at 20:00 (detailed timetable of all election related processes in Eng. is here).

The Central Electoral Commission is featuring a video-feed this year. They’ll be live every two hours to summarize participation data, comment on voter activity and violations, irregularities.

You can follow the presidential elections on Twitter via the hashtag #armvote13.

You can also send and follow reports about electoral fraud on Twitter via the hashtag #iditord.

PS: I’ll be live-blogging, tweeting, etc all day both as @ditord and @armenialiberty. I sincerely wish us all very peaceful, un-exciting and regular elections.

The global intelligence agency Stratfor has published a paper on Armenia’s February 18 presidential elections, where it sees little chance of any significant political changes within the country, but says the election “comes amid a broader strategic shift in the South Caucasus.”

“Due to an ongoing political thaw between Russia and Georgia, the Armenian economy could see a boost from increased regional economic integration, which may also reduce Yerevan’s own political isolation,” Stratfor has noted in the paper (the video below explains it in more detail).

Turning back to the Armenian elecitons, Stratfor notes: “Unlike previous elections, this one is not expected to be competitive; no candidate is seriously challenging Sarkisian and two of the country’s other top political figures, former presidents Ter-Petrosian and Robert Kocharian, both declined to run. Consequently, the prospect for instability or violence surrounding it is diminished. Sarkisian is projected to win comfortably, with most polls showing him taking 60 percent to 70 percent of the vote.”

Don’t Break My Heart | by Hayal 6

Armenians don’t get enough love, or if they do, they fail to see it, according to Bloomberg.

In 2006 and 2007, Gallup went to 136 countries and asked people, “Did you experience love for a lot of the day yesterday?” And while the global average is 70%, only 29% of Armenians responded “yes” to the question. Thus Armenia is on the last place among 136 countries of the world. Embarrassing!

We are in an interesting company, along with Uzbekistan and Mongolia, which are placed 135th and 134th respectively.

I wouldn’t be an Armenian if I didn’t compare us to Georgians and Azerbaijanis. There must be something in the air or soil… Georgian’s aren’t faring well either, they are on the 132nd place. And Azerbaijanis, with all that oil wealth and great caviar are only 126th.

Clearly, money is not part of the love formula as far as this particular survey is concerned. You see, Filipinos are the first in the ‘love ranking’ having scored 93% ‘yes’ answers, followed by Rwanda (92%) and Puerto Rico (90%).

Make sure to click this link to see how your country is doing in the ‘love ranking’.

RFE/RL’s Armenian Service hosted a Google Hangout yesterday, featuring Armenian Service Director Hrair Tamrazian, analyst Richard Giragosian, and RFE/RL journalists Siranuysh Gevorgyan and Ruzanna Stepanyan and myself.

We were getting questions via Twitter hashtag #armvote13 and Facebook.The discussion was… well, ok, mostly thanks to my great internet friends: Katy Pearce, Ani Wandarian, Liana Aghajanian and others.

However, you can just see, that with a rather shallow pre-election campaign in our hands, we didn’t have much to talk about. Kudos to Richard Giragosian for saving the day with his comments and unbelievable energy.

The Hangout was interesting for me technologically: the broadcast channel was set up and handled by RFE/RL’s team in Prague, but my challange here was to see what is the best quality I can provide from Yerevan’s end. I’d say – pretty good!

The format itself was very interesting too: for the first time Radio Azatutyun was doing a live talk-show like event in English specifically targeted at an English speaking audience abroad. Even the timing (12:00 PM EST) was selected to be convenient for viewers in the US.

I had my chance to speak too – about social networks, etc. Was rather unprepared, so you can safely skip the video above from minutes 24:50 to 28:50, or risk being bored to death.

PS: I wish there were more Hangouts like this. I have even created the Live Video section on this blog to start a regular talk-show of this kind, but neither have the people who’d want to take part, nor the time and resources to make it happen. Sad. It might actually be interesting…

Tiarn’ndaraj, as it is known in Armenian, symbolizes the presentation of the 40 day-old Christ Child to the Temple in Jerusalem.

His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, has declared this to be the Blessing Day for newlyweds.

Following the celebration of Divine Liturgy, newly married couples will be blessed in all Armenian Churches.

Photogallery by Karen Minasian

“A1plus” TV has put together a great review of media coverage of presidential campaign held in Armenia in the past 20 years.

The text of the video in English is here. Very interesting.