By Ruzanna Khachatrian
The Armenian opposition discussed on Monday preparations for its impending appeal to the Constitutional Court against the results of the parliamentary elections which it rejects as fraudulent. Leaders of the Artarutyun (Justice) alliance, which placed second in the official vote tally, set up an ad hoc group that will put together what they say is evidence of vote rigging and submit it to the court. They told RFE/RL that the lawsuit will be filed by the end of this week.
“We believe that the elections held under the both proportional and majoritarian systems and even the constitutional referendum were accompanied by mass falsifications,” said a leading member of the bloc, Arshak Sadoyan.
Sadoyan and Artarutyun’s campaign manager, Stepan Zakarian, drew parallels between the May 25 vote and this year’s presidential election which the opposition claims was rigged by the authorities. The Artarutyun leader, Stepan Demirchian, was Kocharian’s main challenger.
“We view these elections as a continuation of the presidential elections,” Zakarian said. “We will argue that nothing has been done to implement the Constitutional Court’s verdict [on the presidential election].”
The court turned down Demirchian’s demand to annul the outcome of the presidential ballot. It
also instructed law-enforcement authorities to prosecute individuals involved in vote irregularities and called for a “referendum of confidence” in Kocharian.
Artarutyun’s governing body again avoided any decision on whether or not it will boycott sessions of the new parliament. “We still have the time to discuss that and make a decision,” said Albert Bazeyan, one of its members.
Bazeyan and his Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party back the idea of the boycott. But he said on Monday that Hanrapetutyun will accept any decision to be taken by the majority of its opposition allies.