YEREVAN. – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) helped so that the presidents of France and Germany would have grounds to congratulate Armenia’s incumbent President, Serzh Sargsyan, as a result of the country’s presidential election. Opposition Heritage Party member Stiopa Safaryan stated this during a press conference on Monday.  

Reflecting on the OSCE/ODIHR’s preliminary and interim reports on the election, Safaryan noted that the interim report questions the accuracy of the votes which the ruling Republican Party (RPA) candidate—that is, Sargsyan—had received in several hundred precincts, and that the observers expressed a concern about a fairly high voter turnout and in connection with the votes Sargsyan had garnered.  

“We can have a grievance that the preliminary report gave a good assessment to the election, whereas the interim and the final reports criticize it, and justice is being restored. At the initial phase, the international organizations are helping them [that is, the foreign country leaders] to send congratulatory messages and, subsequently—and to safe face—, they are attempting to restore justice with interim and final reports,” Safaryan argued.    

But the other speaker of the press conference, RPA MP Artak Davtyan, noted that, perhaps, it is not necessary to think about the international organizations’ “saving face.” As per Davtyan, these organizations have so much prestige and reputation that they do not need to give an account when issuing statements.  

According to the ruling party deputy, the overwhelming majority of the 149 polling precincts, which the OSCE/ODIHR has noted in its reports, are those precincts where there are up to a maximum of 300 voters. In his words, it would have been illogical if the ratio of the votes in these small precincts had been just as elastic as those in the other precincts. Davtyan also noted that, perhaps, these are the small communities which Heritage had not visited and where the residents are interconnected, and therefore it is only natural that a given community votes in the same manner.

The ruling party MP added that he is not concerned by the assessments that are made in the OSCE/ODIHR interim report, and that even if the ballots which were cast in a given precinct were to be counted in favor of opposition Heritage Party Chairman Raffi Hovannisian—who is declared runner-up to the winner, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, as a result of the presidential election that was conducted on February 18, but who claims to be the real winner in the vote—, this would not change the overall picture.  

Stiopa Safaryan, on the other hand, noted that if the results in these precincts are declared invalid, Hovannisian would come out the winner.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am