Who voted YES?
Who voted YES on the Constitutional Referendum?
The figures are in and according to the Central Election Commission of Armenia, 1,483,383 persons took part in the constitutional referendum in Armenia and abroad.
This number I personally find amazing, since it represents 64% of the eligible voters, meaning that if Armenia did have at present 3.9 million people living in the country, then this would be accurate. The reality is that Armenia had only approximately 2 million people living here and in the optimal conditions, there would be only 1.2 million eligible voters present to cast a vote (approximately 60% of the population).
Now here is the reality and some cases that were reported to me by people I know.
Our musical guru Nick went to cast a NO vote and when he showed up to the polling station, he noticed that next to his mother’s name was a indicator that she had come and voted (though she had boycotted the election) and next to his deceased father’s name which was on the register, was an indicator that he had come and voted. Presumably, they both voted YES.
At a polling station on Kochar Street in Yerevan, a friend of mine was involved in monitoring and told me that 367 people physically came and cast votes, yet they had reported 3,000+ votes at that station.
I’m sure there were tens of thousands of such cases and for this reason the referendum passed.
I believe that the reality is that there was a less than 15% turnout of voters and thus, the constitutional referendum did not pass and should not be recognized.
If Kocharian announces that everything was done on the up and up and the changes are set in cement, then as far as I’m concerned our President has lost what little credibility he had left and is nothing more than a criminal and should be treated as such.
Sadly this is Armenian democracy at work. The typical fixing of elections and even more sadly there has so far been very little condemnation from the international community.
My guess is that the silence of the international community over the constitutional amendment is connected with the Karabagh settlement.
A recent article could me an indicator of things to come:
Armenian Foreign Minister Makes Stunning Statement
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov. 26, 2005
AssA-Irada 26/11/2005 12:32
Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanian has made a stunning statement, claiming that Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan's region under occupation, is allegedly 'an integral part of Armenia that will never be transferred to Azerbaijan's jurisdiction'.
"It will never belong to Azerbaijanis, as Armenians in Karabakh and all over the world won't allow this," he said in an interview with a local television channel.
[…]
Now that the constitutional amendments have “passed,” mark my words, an attempt to make Karabagh a part of Armenia will now happen and if they succeed in doing this, a peace settlement will be reached and the President of Armenia will hand back over a bunch of land to Azerbaijan, which the new amendments allow him to do without any problem.
In addition to this, he is now exempt from being prosecuted in a court of law with issues that relate to his duties as president, from the past, present and future. This means that effectively he is beyond reach of the written law for violations of human rights that were committed in the past and will be committed in the future, or all his documented acts of economic plunder, which in some countries call for the death sentence. This is very dangerous for anyone to have such exemption, because now the will not have a chance for a fair trial for what he has done, meaning that the laws of nature can justifiably be enacted and believe me, there are many, many people here who will exercise their right to be judge, jury and executioner.
Is there any hope for a promising future? I would say yes, but only with a strong collective involvement from all Armenians all over the world. Will this ever happen? Time will only tell.
The figures are in and according to the Central Election Commission of Armenia, 1,483,383 persons took part in the constitutional referendum in Armenia and abroad.
This number I personally find amazing, since it represents 64% of the eligible voters, meaning that if Armenia did have at present 3.9 million people living in the country, then this would be accurate. The reality is that Armenia had only approximately 2 million people living here and in the optimal conditions, there would be only 1.2 million eligible voters present to cast a vote (approximately 60% of the population).
Now here is the reality and some cases that were reported to me by people I know.
Our musical guru Nick went to cast a NO vote and when he showed up to the polling station, he noticed that next to his mother’s name was a indicator that she had come and voted (though she had boycotted the election) and next to his deceased father’s name which was on the register, was an indicator that he had come and voted. Presumably, they both voted YES.
At a polling station on Kochar Street in Yerevan, a friend of mine was involved in monitoring and told me that 367 people physically came and cast votes, yet they had reported 3,000+ votes at that station.
I’m sure there were tens of thousands of such cases and for this reason the referendum passed.
I believe that the reality is that there was a less than 15% turnout of voters and thus, the constitutional referendum did not pass and should not be recognized.
If Kocharian announces that everything was done on the up and up and the changes are set in cement, then as far as I’m concerned our President has lost what little credibility he had left and is nothing more than a criminal and should be treated as such.
Sadly this is Armenian democracy at work. The typical fixing of elections and even more sadly there has so far been very little condemnation from the international community.
My guess is that the silence of the international community over the constitutional amendment is connected with the Karabagh settlement.
A recent article could me an indicator of things to come:
Armenian Foreign Minister Makes Stunning Statement
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov. 26, 2005
AssA-Irada 26/11/2005 12:32
Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanian has made a stunning statement, claiming that Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan's region under occupation, is allegedly 'an integral part of Armenia that will never be transferred to Azerbaijan's jurisdiction'.
"It will never belong to Azerbaijanis, as Armenians in Karabakh and all over the world won't allow this," he said in an interview with a local television channel.
[…]
Now that the constitutional amendments have “passed,” mark my words, an attempt to make Karabagh a part of Armenia will now happen and if they succeed in doing this, a peace settlement will be reached and the President of Armenia will hand back over a bunch of land to Azerbaijan, which the new amendments allow him to do without any problem.
In addition to this, he is now exempt from being prosecuted in a court of law with issues that relate to his duties as president, from the past, present and future. This means that effectively he is beyond reach of the written law for violations of human rights that were committed in the past and will be committed in the future, or all his documented acts of economic plunder, which in some countries call for the death sentence. This is very dangerous for anyone to have such exemption, because now the will not have a chance for a fair trial for what he has done, meaning that the laws of nature can justifiably be enacted and believe me, there are many, many people here who will exercise their right to be judge, jury and executioner.
Is there any hope for a promising future? I would say yes, but only with a strong collective involvement from all Armenians all over the world. Will this ever happen? Time will only tell.
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