JURIST - Paper Chase: Armenia opposition group alleges election fraud

[JURIST] Armenian opposition group the Armenian National Congress (ANC) [party website, in Armenian] on Wednesday alleged fraud in the country's recent parliamentary elections. The ANC called for the election results to be thrown out because of widespread fraud, including paying for votes, by the Republican Party of President Serzh Sarksyan [official website]. The ANC won seven seats in parliament while Sarksyan's party won 68 seats. Parliament leader, Aram Manukyan, said that the ANC will appeal the results [Reuters report] of the election to the Constitutional Court of Armenia [official website, in Armenian].

This is not the first time there have been allegations of fraud an Armenian election. Protests following the February 2008 presidential election ended in the deaths of 10 demonstrators. Following the 2008 election demonstrations, the National Assembly of Armenia [official website, in Armenian] voted during an emergency session [JURIST report] to place restrictions on rallies and demonstrations. In March 2008, former Armenian president Robert Kocharian issued a decree lifting media restrictions put in place during a state of emergency [JURIST reports] declared after the contested election. Earlier that month, the Constitutional Court of Armenia rejected a challenge [JURIST report] brought by opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian against the election results, ruling that although polling discrepancies existed they did not affect the election's outcome.