Polling Station, Ararat Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2005

Eurasianet has more on the astonishingly high level of falsification that saw amendments to the constitution passed in a referendum held in Armenia on Sunday. Ironically, given that there have been no free and democratic elections in Armenia since independence was declared in 1991, that’s saying something.

The main opposition complaint concerns the turnout figure for the November 27 referendum. Officials claim over 65 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. Meanwhile, opposition estimates suggest turnout was somewhere between 16-21 percent. The turnout issue is critical because under Armenian law at least one-third of eligible voters must support a referendum proposal for it to be adopted.

[…]

International observers confirmed that the referendum featured instances of abuse, but they stopped short of calling for the invalidation of the results. A statement issued by the Council of Europe’s 14-member observer delegation said the referendum was marred by fraud and ballot-stuffing. “The extremely low voting activity did not correspond to the high figures provided by the electoral commissions,” the statement said. The US State Department echoed the Council of Europe’s concerns. “We call on the government of Armenia to investigate Council of Europe observer reports of serious abuses and fraud,” a State Department statement said.

The Council of Europe say that the boycott of the referendum by the opposition “abbetted fraud,” whereas I would argue that as the referendum would have been falsified regardless, the boycott instead showed everyone that there is no political will at all to allow democratic elections in Armenia in the near future.

However, the main lesson learned that has serious ramifications for the future of the country is the lack of faith in Europe, democracy and the political process displayed by the vast majority of Armenians. For the U.S. and Europe, however, that doesn’t appear to matter as they openly urged Armenians to adopt the new constitution, and so the falsificantion are probably considered “unfortunate,” but a means to an end.

In the weeks leading up to the referendum, the Council of Europe, the European Union and the United States all backed the constitutional changes proposed in the referendum.

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While disapproving of the government’s conduct of the referendum, the United States and EU nations appear reluctant to align themselves with the opposition. The State Department statement, for example, reaffirmed US support for passage of the constitutional amendments, arguing that they held the potential “[to strengthen] democratic institutions in Armenia.”

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Local observers contend that most Armenians have become politically apathetic in recent years. An opposition rally November 28 against the referendum ballot-stuffing drew between 5,000-10,000 people, seemingly confirming the notion that the population is at present largely indifferent to political issues.

Well, given that situation it appears unlikely that the amended constitution which will come into force after the 2007 parliamentary elections will fare any better, or be any more respected, than the one it replaces.