June 3, 2009 - 16:01 AMT
Ex-Mayor calls on witnesses not to collaborate with General Prosecutor's Office
All that happened on May 31 was not elections but a pre-arranged process of falsifications implemented by the authorities, former Mayor of Yerevan Vahagn Khachatryan, currently member of Armenian National Congress (ANC), told a news conference. Ex-Mayor finds that Armenia should cease the practice of holding elections in the present-day totalitarian regime. "These were not elections, but a pre-arranged process of mass falsifications implemented by the authorities," Vahagn Khachatryan said.

Before the elections opposition had some hopes that at least Yerevan Municipality would become a legitimate and accomplished structure. But what happened on May 31, proved the contrary, ex-Mayor finds. "During elections, ANC and its co-thinkers realized that authorities would not manage to change," he noted.

When asked by a anARMENIAN.Net correspondent why ANC representatives, journalists and observers refused to cooperate with General Prosecutor's Office, Mr. Khachatryan said he didn't have faith in state government bodies, especially Prosecutor's Office and Police. "I call on everybody to follow the example of the correspondent of '168 Zham' and observer of Transparency International - Armenia: not to go to polling stations, exposing their lives to danger." To the question how the Prosecutor's Office and Police should work in that case, Khachatryan said they'd better think about restoring their image and people's trust instead of falsifying elections.