Levon Ter-Petrossian Pre-Election Campaign Rally, Liberty Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

Today saw the final pre-election campaign rally by former president Levon Ter-Petrossian in Yerevan’s Liberty Square. There was no doubt that it was going to be large, although I personally don’t think it was much different than last week’s. Regardless, according to E-Channel’s guide to estimating crowds in Liberty Square, I’d put it at approximately 35,000.

However, one international news wire put it at 50,000 as did E-Channel, while EurasiaNet says 30-40,000. Given that estimating crowds is not an exact science, I’ll split the difference and call it 40,000. Regardless, it was one of the largest pre-election political rallies I’ve attended in Armenia in nine years of living here, the others being Ter-Petrossian last week as well as those staged by Vahan Hovannisian and Artur Baghdasarian. For sure, in the numbers game in Liberty Square, Ter-Petrossian holds the record.

This is especially the case given the way in which the organizers of every political rally either incorrectly judges the size or inflates the figure to such an extent that it is not only incredible, but also physically impossible. Levon Ter-Petrossian’s people in the form of Nikol Pashinian put the number of those in attendance at 230,000. A1 Plus told me later in the day that the number was then increased to over 300,000 people. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I have to be honest, it never ceases to amaze me.

The full post is available on the Armenia Election Monitor 2008.