Yesterday the culture club of Echmiadzin, where TEC #19 is located, was surrounded by people and policemen.
The latter have blocked the road, which leads to the club with metal barriers, where at 2p.m. the next session of the commission was supposed to take place. During that session the commission was to decide whether they were going to register candidates Hakob Hakobyan and Susanna Harutyunyan. Judging from the people who gathered near the TEC, we may assume that they were the supporters of Hakobyan and Harutyunyan, who were complaining that the TEC has received an order from “above” not to register the two, by explaining that some documents are missing. The people who gathered in front of the TEC were exclaiming “struggle till the end”, “Liberty, “Freedom”, “Hakobyan” and other phrases. During the protest the other Hakobyan entered the TEC and thought that people were welcoming him and bowed to them. However this act even more exacerbated the people, who started to exclaim “Hakobyan of Echmiadzin”. Only then Hakobyan of Yerevan realized that people didn’t mean him but his opponent.
Thus, before the session of the commission, Hakobyan and Harutyunyan told us that the TEC has lost part of the documents that they had already submitted, and now they claim that the documents are missing. According to the RA Electoral Code, the majority candidates must submit a document to the TEC with 50 signatures from citizens during the nomination. Hakobyan, however, has submitted a list of 61 signatures and Harutyunyan – 75. Strangely enough yesterday the last page of that list disappeared from the package of documents, and it turned out that each of them has submitted 50 signatures. TEC 19 chairman, Movses Kartashyan, was claiming that no pages have been lost. However, when submitting documents, the TEC gave a receipt to the candidates, which mentioned how many pages were submitted. TEC 19 chairman Kartashyan announced that three people representing each candidate went to him and said that they were made to put their signatures on the lists. “They came to me and stated that they haven’t participated in the decision-making in terms of submitting signatures,” he said, and requested the other 6 members of the commission not to register Hakobyan and Harutyunyan as candidates. It turned out that some documents of Yerevan resident Hakobyan were also lost, however he was allowed to submit them again. As Kartashyan refused to agree that anything could possibly be lost in the commission, candidate Harutyunyan tried to refresh his memory by bringing up certain details, “Do you remember when I told you that once I get elected MP I will bring a very good secretary to work for you so that you don’t lose any papers?” In order o calm the environment down in the TEC, Hakobyan of Echmiadzin said to Hakobyan of Yerevan, “You are a guest in our area. When we go outside I’ll ask the people to welcome you by carrying you on their hands.” During the registration of Susanna Harutyunyan, the representative of the National Unity party in TEC, Gagik Gabrielyan, said that he didn’t think that the list of signatures of the candidate was false. That’s why he thought there is no reason not to register her. The TEC member, representative of the NDU, Artavazd Vardanyan said, “I have close relations with Susanna but it doesn’t mean anything. Regarding Hakobyan, I think that he is one of the violators of the last presidential elections. That’s why I personally have a negative opinion about him. But now I have to be objective and put away my personal dislike of that candidate. Regardless of my dislike, I truly believe that the signatures are not false, as there are so many people gathered in front of this building supporting him. The ones who signed that list can go to the court and say that they were made to do so. I am formally OK with his documents.” During the voting Harutyunyan was registered, due to 4 “for” votes. After that the commission started to discuss Hakobyan’s registration. According to Movses Kartashyan, Hakobyan’s candidature is doubtful because several people told him that they were made to sign the list. The chairman of the commission was categorically against Hakobyan’s registration, saying that the complaints of the two citizens are enough for him not to register that candidate. Boris Mkrtchyan, authorized representative of Seyran Saroyan, who’s supported by the RPA, also made a speech. Nevertheless Mkrtchyan petitioned the commission members to follow the RA Electoral Code requirements. According to the latter, if the documents of Hakobyan are not sufficient, and there are complaints, the candidate must not be registered. He also threatened that if Hakobyan is registered, he will have to claim to change the members of the commission because of showing biased attitude to the candidate. As a response to that the TEC secretary said, “You are threatening us but it’s not legal, either. Plus you have no right to dictate to us what to do.” Later, the representative of the National Unity petitioned the members to believe not the formal documents but what they actually see, that is, the huge crowd of people who gathered to support the two candidates. The registration of Hakobyan was being deliberately prolonged by the chairman of the commission. He was waiting for the other member of the TEC – representative of the court. Only after the attendance of the court representative did they start to vote. Of course, the chair voted against Hakobyan’s registration. Despite that fact, Hakobyan’s candidature was registered by 4 “against” votes. Six “against” votes are necessary for not registering. The TEC chairman didn’t like that and he demanded double voting. By doing that he was hoping that two other members of the TEC would vote against Hakobyan.
P.S. The people who were waiting near TEC 19 until the court made the verdict to register Hakob Hakobyan and Sousanna Harutyunyan moved to the “Hripsime” church with the candidates, after they found out that the latter were registered.