Rumors are already flying around that this electoral process had to do with the fact that some people made it so their opponent not receive enough number of votes; so, there were some university board members that reached their goals. Some people are spreading rumors that the two candidates for rector, including pro-rector of YSU Aram Simonyan and dean of the Law department Gagik Ghazinyan are under pressure and that this is being done so both will refuse to take part in the upcoming elections. However, during an interview yesterday, both Simonyan and Ghazinyan said that they will continue the struggle to sit in the big chair. They both feel a sense of responsibility of fulfilling their promises made to their voters.
Here are the final results of the three stage rector elections: 20 votes for A. Simonyan and 36 for G. Ghazinyan. Gagik Ghazinyan only lacked one vote in order to be elected rector. Both rectors deny that they are under pressure.
“I can tell you for sure that that’s not true. If we weren’t pressured in the first stage, why should we be under pressure now?” said A. Simonyan. In his opinion, the elections were fair and transparent.
“I don’t think that any of the candidates has any complaints.”
In response to the question as to whether or not it was possible that the university board members could affect the electoral process, Mr. Simonyan said:
“If you have noticed, I have mainly been outside the hall, see who’s doing what. It would be strange if I were to only sit or stand there; I’m simply afraid of saying a word. I haven’t seen anything wrong going for now. Besides, the electoral commission mainly consisted of well known figures in the university and outside. I don’t think anything like that happened. If they try anything against the law, the council members would do something about it.”
Meanwhile, member of the electoral commission and dean of the philosophy/psychology department of YSU H. Mirzoyan believes that “the commission went beyond its limits”. According to Mirzoyan, when elections were over and it was time to count the ballots, G. Ghazinyan’s one extra ballot, which could have been crucial for finalizing the results, was considered invalid. Mirzoyan adds that he and the dean of the theology department of the university had claimed that the council and the president of the council must be informed about any extra ballot, but the majority of commission members went against that and the ballot was considered invalid once and for all.
“I don’t feel bad that a wrong decision was made, but because I haven’t let the council know about that in a written statement. I had the right to do that, but I didn’t and the council didn’t find out about the discussion on the ballot. Besides that, we were all so tired, so exhausted that I lost all hope that anyone would listen to me. I feel bad based on the fact that none of the commission members thought about whether this was the right thing to do or not. It was all about one ballot that could put an end to the elections. I disagree with head of the electoral commission Raffik Petrosyan when he claims that the commission members unanimously voted to consider the ballot invalid. Petrosyan then came up with a pretty subjective explanation.”
According to H. Mirzoyan, another four ballots belonging to G. Ghazinyan were considered invalid in the second stage of the elections. However, G. Ghazinyan is not planning on complaining about the election results anytime soon.
“Even if I do protest, I must protest to the council and also, to the university. But I will never do that; that’s not part of my character. Besides that, I wouldn’t want to become a rector by one ballot, even if that ballot were to turn into a scandal and it would be in my favor, I would reject it because the rector of the university must have a number of votes by the majority of the people he trusts, and not just a fixed number of 37 votes.”
Ghazinyan denies all allegations claiming that the elections didn’t go well due to the bad relations between him and the president of the electoral commission and former dean of the Law Department of YSU Raffik Petrosyan.
“If you look at it from another perspective, he is my colleague and currently works at our department. We have never had any problems. As for personal relations, each one of us feels looks at someone differently and doesn’t show it, either feels it or not. I wouldn’t want that to play a decisive role in elections. I’m not saying that sympathy doesn’t play a role here, but there are other factors too.”
G. Ghazinyan says that he is not certain as to who was the one worried about that one vote-R. Petrosyan or deputy minister of Education and Sciences Ara Avetisyan, who was known to support dean of the Mathematics department Gegham Gevorgyan?
“According to my sources, both have been very active in the process. But after the second stage of the elections, things got a little heated up and it was all very clear. They were simply going around, persuading people, even going down to the level of MPs. I don’t know whose idea it was to make it so the elections don’t take place. I would be more considerate if I knew that they were campaigning for one of the candidates to win. One thing is for sure: those two had something to do with postponing the elections.”