The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) is beginning a series of measures aimed at protecting justice and the interests of the voters, and confronting the illegalities of the incumbent authorities, PAP chairman Gagik Tsarukyan announced in a statement Friday. Tsarukyan stated as follows:

“Dear compatriots,

The Prosperous Armenia Party entered the [parliamentary] election campaign with a well-represented team, submitting to the judgment of the voter the ‘Proposal to Armenia’ program, on which dozens of specialists have worked for months. The main goal of our participation in the elections was to keep our country away from possible dangerous developments, to insure ourselves from visible economic and political dangers.

We had planned to have a civilized election campaign, full of respect for the voter. Sadly, in just the 4th-5th day of the campaign, it became clear that the authorities were not interested in a civilized campaign. An ugly, illegal and immoral campaign was unleashed against us. Many of our supporters and activists were subjected to criminal prosecutions, there were arrests on fabricated charges. The ruling power waged a vulgar campaign against us, full of insults and slander. We decided not to give in to provocations and not to enter that vocabulary, that logic.

Both I and the active members of our team never lowered the bar of civilized debate, we remained within the framework of political struggle. After all the obstacles, forceful and propaganda attacks, a campaign conducted in conditions of absolute inequality, even in the conditions of elections held with unprecedented use of administrative resources and enormous pressure on the voter, our political force did not break, garnered enough votes to enter parliament. At first, our votes were technically reduced, and we began a recount of ballots, which allowed us to restore the missing votes.

When there was no longer any doubt that the PAP was in parliament, the authorities decided to go for an open massacre. Late in the evening, a secret CEC [i.e. the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia] meeting was held, where the elections held in two precincts were canceled without appointing a reelection, as required by the Electoral Code. It is obvious that the elections were canceled precisely in those precincts where the PAP received a lot of votes.

At the same time, the results of those precincts where the zeroing of PAP votes could not have affected the outcome of the elections were not canceled. Dear compatriots, dear people, We [i.e. the PAP] had entered into an honest political struggle, but all possible illegal actions were and continue to be used against us. I want to assure you that we will continue to defend your vote of confidence by all means not prohibited by law.

This is no longer just the task of the Prosperous Armenia Party, this is the task of all post-election developments in Armenia, the task of all of us. Our team will work actively today and in the coming days, cooperating with all our opposition partners. I express my gratitude to all political forces, public figures, media outlets that have expressed their support to us since last night. The PAP is starting a series of actions aimed at protecting justice and the interests of the voter, and resisting the illegalities of the authorities.

Our legal teams are working on all possible appeals and court processes. We are starting political consultations with political forces to develop a joint agenda and actions. Dear compatriots, All the promises and assurances given to you are valid, nothing has changed and will not change. I am your Tsarukyan.”

The CEC on Thursday made a decision to invalidate the parliamentary elections results in two polling stations—35/65 and 10/51. According to the CEC, the number of voters in those constituencies was recorded as the total number of inaccuracies. As a result of that decision, the PAP lost 213 votes, which could lead to the Prosperous Armenia Party not receiving the minimum threshold of 4 percent of the votes and not entering in parliament.