Opposition candidate not going to “make a show” of Hrazdan election row

 February 17, 2012 - 14:43 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) member Sasoun Mikaelyan who ran for the mayor elections in Hrazdan said he didn’t appeal against the elections results not to “make a show” out of it.

“I submitted my candidacy by people's will, I'm proud of the result I scored, and I'm not going to appeal against it because it's useless,” he said at a press conference in Yerevan.

Mikaelyan said numerous violations were recorded during the elections; in particular, the stamps for sealing the passports were missing allowing people to vote for several times. Furthermore, people were pressed not to vote for Mikaelyan, electoral bribes were also widely used. Mikaelyan thanked those from Hradzan who voted for him despite all this.

Current mayor of the town of Hrazdan, Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) candidate Aram Danielyan won the Feb 12 mayoral race.

He garnered 13079 votes, while Armenian National Congress (ANC) opposition bloc member Sasoun Mikaelyan gained 11506 votes, according to Central Election Commission website.

It should be noted that offices of Sasoun Mikaelyan and Aram Danielyan spoke about violations on the election day, each blaming the other for that.

Police press service noted that investigation into the recorded two cases of violations is presently under way.