Community head elections for the Nalbandyan community of Armavir region of Armenia took place on August 13 and according to head of 21/2 polling electoral commission, Albert Zakaryan, the elections were organized in an environment of fright and intimidation. There were incidents in the evening of Election Day.
There were two candidates nominated for the community head’s position. One of them was Andranik Hazroyan, who was non-partisan but backed by the “Republican” party. The other one was Roland Mkrtchyan, who was the current community head, had been a member of the Republican party but had dropped his membership and joined “Prosperous Armenia” party.
We were told by Albert Zakaryan that during the elections the team members of Roland Mkrtchyan were trying to influence on the environment inside the polling station but he didn’t let them. “The process was going on well. But the proxies of Roland Mkrtchyan were trying to influence on the environment inside the polling station. I talked to them and tried to make them calm down. They were trying to gain my attention so as to make me talk to them from the window and tell them that they were doing something wrong. They had brought a journalist from “Center” TV company and as soon as I tried to talk to them they told the journalist to take me on camera so that they could tell everybody later that I was crying at them. They intimidated, but I am not frightened and never will be. But they were trying to create some conditions so that they could take me on camera. They were trying to do such kind of things and frame faults on me, and later they attacked me”, says A. Zakaryan. This information was approved as well as Andranik Hazroyan, who told us that some members of “Prosperous Armenia” party had quarreled with Albert but they didn’t interfere at all.
According to our information, during these elections a person from Janfida village named Rostam, a soldier, was frightening people. Concerning this person A. Zakaryan said, “Rostam is from our neighboring village. He is Rostam for himself and for some people only. He can’t be that powerful for me. He can’t frighten me. I respect that person only for the way that he has passed, but generally I am not his friend and don’t have anything common with him”, said the PEC head, whom some party members and friends of Roland tried to beat him with wooden sticks after the elections.
21/2 polling station is allocated in the old culture center of Nalbandyan village, which does not have a lavatory. The head of the polling electoral commission could not resist any more after the ballot counting process and decided to go out to a tree in a neighboring district because there was no bathroom there. There were many trees in that place and some people approached him behind the trees and attacked him. “I am not a coward, but I was frightened and surprised at that moment. Some people attacked me”, said A. Zakaryan. We asked him whether the rumors saying that after learning about the fact that the Republicans had no opportunities to win the elections any more he tried to leave the polling station but some members of “Prosperous Armenia” party stopped him were true or not. “How could I leave the polling station while everyone was inside and all the stamps and ballots were there? I had been inside the polling station for more than three hours, I was there during the vote counting process, but I am a man and I couldn’t resist any more, so, since there wasn’t any bathroom inside I had to go out. I went out and some people attacked me. My house was close to that place and at that time it is easier for me to go to my house than to return to the polling station. Later they attacked my house and were beating the gates”, he assures and adds that there were over 7 people there, “There were many of them and they had sticks in their hands”.
A. Zakaryan told us that he hadn’t applied to police yet because, as he says, “he is not that person”. “How can I go to the police? I am not that kind of person. Everything may happen in the life. We live in this village, our village is a very good village, people are good too, those people were strangers from outside. They are people who tried to show some people that they can give our village to them as a present, but people are very good here and will not let that take place. They were not from our village”, says A. Zakaryan.
When Zakaryan was attacked his children were frightened too and ran away from their house to their neighbors. “The process of elections was organized well, I can’t understand what made them angry and why they did what they did. They probably didn’t want me to be present there during the vote counting process”, assumes A. Zakaryan.
We asked A. Hazroyan whether he didn’t think that his votes had been falsified during the vote counting process, to which he answered, “A. Zakaryan was not present there during the vote counting process. I think the Central Electoral Commission should think about this. How can they consider the results valid if during the vote counting process the PEC head was out of the polling station? I think that the head of the commission should apply to the relevant bodies”. Answering to our note that he can’t do that because he is frightened Mr. Hazroyan said, “He is still in shock and doesn’t say how it happened. I talked to him just the first day after the incident. As soon as I heard that he had been attacked I called him and he told me that he couldn’t tell me anything, his children had escaped from their house and some people were beating the gates of his house. He may say something later. He wanted to go out but some people attacked him, he ran away to his house and closed the doors… I am not pessimistic and haven’t wondered what really happened there. I just called Albert and he told me that some people had attacked him. I don’t want to have troubles with them. Albert’s children were frightened too and left their house”.
P.S. Albert Zakaryan assured us that R. Mkrtchyan wanted to meet him. “They told me that there are some people that want to meet me. I told them that I didn’t want to see anyone”, says A. Zakaryan and thinks that those people want to meet him “ to come to an agreement”.