Two of participating forces were playing with same rules of game – opposition pa

YEREVAN. – The course of Sunday’s Armenian capital city Yerevan Council of Elders elections was disgraceful, a real déjà vu. 

Opposition Heritage Party Executive Board Secretary Stiopa Safaryan, who was a member in the Heritage-led “Barev, [Hello] Yerevan” bloc’s list for the elections, told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“During the [recent] presidential elections there were conditions for freedom of expression; how [the votes] were counted is another matter. But, now, we had a repeat of [last year’s] parliamentary elections. A voting that was controllable for the authorities, and uncontrollable for the [election precinct] commission members, the opposition,” Safaryan said.   

As per the opposition member, the Yerevan elections were the tragedy of the authorities.          

“On the other hand, you cannot but accept that the opposition likewise has its tragedy. The electoral process moved out of the [precinct] commissions. Two of the participating forces [i.e., the ruling Republican Party and the non-pro-government Prosperous Armenia Party], which had the greatest resources, were playing with the same rules of the game, whereas the opposition is defeated here in advance. This was money’s and state levers’ yet another victory over the people,” Stiopa Safaryan concluded.