Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

With the area around Yerevan’s Opera in almost total lock down, prime minister Serge Sargsyan was inaugurated as president in a ceremony and military parade that citizens could few could get even remotely close to. As it happened, myself and another photographer managed to eventually break the police blockade and get right outside the Opera building, but a lot of good that did us. Sargsyan was already inside and all we managed to get was the back of the head of the outgoing president, Robert Kocharian, as he arrived to enter via a side door.

Despite press passes and being in a public area, we were eventually told in no uncertain terms to clear off by plain-clothes security personnel, probably National Security Service (NSS), when we moved to just opposite Northern Avenue to attempt to photograph the podium erected in Liberty Square from a distance. This wasn’t a surprise as the whole ceremony was conducted hundreds of meters away from any representative of the general public — i.e. the electorate — and the only media present was apparently that authorized by the government.

As it happened, and this was later confirmed by one journalist, Armenia Now reports that even those allowed to attend were not permitted into the main concert hall where the inauguration took place.

A small group of photojournalists were allowed credentials to the inauguration. Upon arriving at the Opera House, however, the press pack was sequestered in a room where they – like everyone else in Armenia – could only watch on TV.

The full post accompanied by photographs is on the Armenia Election Monitor 2008.

Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

Despite amendments to the law on public marches, rallies and demonstrations following the recently lifted state of emergency in Armenia, the opposition continues to hold meetings on the streets of the capital, Yerevan. In order to circumvent the restrictions, the gatherings attended by less than 100 people are held under the guise of playing chess, reading books or even eating fast food in public.

Human Rights Watch has already lambasted the governmental measure and Unzipped welcomes the action by opposition supporters. Most of the demonstrators support the former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, who claims victory in the disputed 19 February presidential election in Armenia.

Announcement on “daily walks”, or “political walks”, or “popular walks”, as some may call it, came out on Sunday, 23 March 2008. Since then “daily walks” around Liberty sq - which is ‘sieged’ by police - are being organized as an act of defiance against the limitations of civil liberties imposed by Armenian government.

[…]

Excellent idea. Loving it.

Khirimian’s Thought, however, says it can understand why such a measure was introduced and argues that it is necessary in the context of violent clashes between the security forces and opposition on 1 March and what the government sees as continuing attempts to stage a “colored revolution” in Armenia.

By no means am I justifying the government’s strategy toward establishing political stability through public and civil restrictions, however, I can see the necessity to do so in order to avoid further bloodshed and unrest. […] It is blatantly obvious that if demonstrations are allowed to continue, whether they have legitimate basis or not, LTP will take advantage of the emotions and pure intentions of the Armenian people and will continue advocating for the systematic elimination of the current government, also creating the opportunity for further violence to emerge.

The full post is available on Global Voices Online.

Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

An early afternoon tip-off alerted me to the probable repeat of yesterday’s action to mark the lifting of the state of emergency. However, few people had gathered by Liberty Square — again occupied by riot police who refused entry — and I was later told that the protest would happen an hour and a half later at 6.30pm. As it was, even that didn’t happen although a number of those directly involved in Ter-Petrossian’s campaign did join less than a hundred protesters. Among them were the wives of Alexander Arzumanian and Nikol Pashinian as well as David Shahnazaryan.

Another tip conveyed to me through a Western journalist contact also informed me that if there was a repeat of yesterday’s action, riot police would use force to disperse it. As it was, the police gathered around the Opera to prevent protesters entering were rather offensive and apparently ignorant of the law. I was constantly informed that despite wearing journalist accreditation I could not take photographs. As usual, and despite effectively asking for trouble, I told them that they did not know the law. Actually, I raised my voice in protest and continued shooting along with a photographer from Photolure.

One day I’m sure this is going to get me into a lot of trouble as the commanders of the police in such instances now know me by sight very well. Even speaking English doesn’t help as at last year’s commemoration of the taking off of A1 Plus from the air, the commander of the police present came up and told me he knew I understood some Armenian after overhearing me speaking to A1 Plus’ Victoria Abrahamian. The same guy was overseeing today’s action and again told me not to take any photos.

I “had taken enough,” he said. Still, nobody bothered to instruct me after I basically refused. Even so, when the shit hits the fan I have to wonder whether some kind of “revenge” will be taken.

The full post accompanied by photographs is on the Armenia Election Monitor 2008.

Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

Yesterday saw a silent protest staged in Yerevan to mark the end of the state of emergency declared on 1 March when seven civilians and one policeman died during clashes between supporters of former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, and security forces. Announced on the Internet, people were called on to gather at various points from Liberty Square to near the French Embassy and stand silently.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get down to Liberty Square until 6.30 — an hour and a half after the demonstration started — so saw nothing apart from riot police preventing people from entering Liberty Square and guard key points en route. A few people could be seen walking to and fro with lighted candles and pictures of prominent opposition members currently under arrest. It’s therefore hard for me to say how many people took part.

The BBC, however, put the number at “more than 1,000″ while Lragir reported “several hundred” and RFE/RL said “about 2,000.” E-Channel also said a “few thousand.”

The full post accompanied by photographs is on the Armenia Election Monitor 2008.

Levon Ter-Petrossian Post-Election Demonstration, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

Less than a week since the 19 February presidential election in Armenia and it feels as though the country is entering the final phase of the battle between president-elect, Serge Sargsyan, and the first president, Levon Ter-Petrossian. The supporters of both claim victory for their candidate.

Regardless, while the authorities are beginning to show some of panic with the what appear to be the illegal detention of three of Ter-Petrossian’s team, the rallies in Yerevan’s Liberty Square continue unabated. And if Public TV and Radio fails to report them adequately or even at all, the online media does.

RFE/RL reported on yesterday’s rally.

Ter-Petrosian urged Armenians to attend his rallies in even larger rallies and thereby put the authorities under greater pressure to call a repeat election.

“We must show these authorities that the whole people don’t accept them,” he told an estimated 40,000 people who gathered in the city’s Liberty Square. “We must show the entire world that the Armenian people do not tolerate such an unworthy and blasphemous government.”

“This square must be full day and night until the victorious end of our struggle,” he said.

[…]

In his speech, Ter-Petrosian also accused the United States and Europe of turning a blind eye to what he described as large-scale fraud that marred the Armenian election. “The West doesn’t care about democracy here,” he said. “The West is not sincere in trying to establish democracy in Armenia. They need a weak, dictatorial regime so that they can always have leverage against it.”

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

Levon Ter-Petrossian Post-Election Demonstration, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

Apologies in advance if the title seems a little sexist or flippant, but it’s true. All successful political movements throughout history have involved women, and especially young ones. Indeed, during opposition protest movements staged in 2003, 2005 and 2007, one of the main criticisms and reasons for their failure wasn’t just inadequate and indecisive leadership, but also the lack of young people.

The same is true when it comes to analyzing the makeup of opposition demonstrations based on gender and it’s all part of what WILLisms calls the Babe Theory of Political Movements.

The babe theory of political movements essentially holds that:

Where and when there are hot babes, an exponential number of men will show up. If 100 cute girls with voluptuous bodies are protesting for freedom, you can count on a thousand men being there as well.

If sexy babes are involved in a peaceful political movement, it has a far greater chance of succeeding. If there are no good-looking women involved, the odds of a successful (and peaceful) movement fall dramatically.

Where and when alluring women are excluded from demonstrations, you can expect greater chances of strife, rioting, and failure.

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

Polling Station, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

It’s now nearly two in the morning and it’s been a tiring day. However, while report after report of violations and falsification comes in, in the seven polling stations I visited today in the Kentron and Arabkir districts of the city, voting was pretty much calm. That’s not to say that violations didn’t occur elsewhere, or even that all was perfect in these particular polling stations, but rather that the environment for voting was peaceful.

Probably the worst violation I saw, although I’m not sure it goes against the electoral code or not, was a number of mothers allowing their children to vote for them. Otherwise, the main problems were pretty much what I’ve described already. Namely that means most PEC members, proxies and observers not wearing identification badges, the inability of voters to queue properly, the PEC’s apparent lack of concern with keeping some order in their polling stations, and the absence of a parallel voter count in all but two cases.

That is not to diminish the necessity of investigating allegations of serious voting irregularities elsewhere, of course, but more to simply assess the situation in the seven polling stations I visited. Personally speaking, the lack of clearly identified authorized persons in polling stations was the most serious issue I encountered. Otherwise, proxies were videoing voting even if in some of the most drearily lit stations they had set up their own lighting.

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

Polling Station, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

At 4pm in the afternoon, candidates for today’s presidential election have already cast their votes. Ironically, the incumbent but outgoing president, Robert Kocharian, voted in the morning at the polling station off Yerevan’s central Mashtots Avenue which presidential candidates Serge Sargsyan and Levon Ter-Petrossian cast their ballots a few hours later.

The polling station was obviously overcrowded with journalists, photographers and film crews. After a slow start in Komitas, turnout seemed high with 11 percent of eligible voters casting their ballots by 11am. As of 2pm, RFE/RL reports that 36.5 percent had voted.

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

Vahan Hovannisian Pre-Election Campaign Youth Meeting, Moscow Cinema, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

The final pre-election campaign meeting by governmental favorite, prime minister Serge Sargsyan, was originally billed as taking place in Yerevan’s Republic Square. However, the swarm of people walking up the central Abovian street and Northern Avenue indicated something different and that was indeed the case. Probably in response to Levon Ter-Petrossian’s rally which drew as many as 40,000 people the day before, Sargsyan’s had been shifted there to once again participate in what can only be described as the numbers game.

That wasn’t unexpected and was actually quite predictable, in fact. Indeed, in such a game it was inevitable that calling upon a variety of administrative resources, the prime minister would win in lieu of actual proper campaigning. Not only did Sargsyan manage to fill Liberty Square, but people were also gathered on much of the territory outside the park surrounding Yerevan Opera — including Northern Avenue. A1 Plus criticizes the prime minister on the basis that many people were from the regions of Armenia, but if truth be known, so too were many of former president Levon Ter-Petrossian, ARF-D candidate Vahan Hovannisian, and Orinats Yerkir’s Artur Baghdasarian.

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

Vahan Hovannisian Pre-Election Campaign Youth Meeting, Moscow Cinema, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008

This weekend saw the last two days of campaigning for Tuesday’s presidential election in Armenia and it was always going to be busy. Yesterday, former president Levon Ter-Petrossian rallied his people in Liberty Square before the prime minister held his this afternoon. Elsewhere, another candidate, Tigran Karapetian, rallied a few hundred at the Matenadaran while Artur Baghdasarian had to settle for Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri given that he couldn’t do so yesterday and the Yerevan municipality didn’t grant him permission to hold a rally in the center of the capital today.

Becoming tired of all these rallies which usually don’t amount to much more than mutual mudslinging and playing the numbers game, it was nice to start the day with a rally by a few hundred youth from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) affiliated Nikol Aghbalian Student Union. Marching in red jackets to recorded ARF songs blaring from a loudspeaker attached to an accompanying van, the young Dashnaks walked from Komitas to the Moscow Cinema in the city center, passing out campaign leaflets for the ARF-D candidate, Vahan Hovannisian.

More impressively, they did it without malice, without hate. They campaigned in high spirits, in song, and with smiles on their faces — something that is not common here, but very welcomed to say the least. Indeed, the action was just another positive development introduced into Armenia by the party which has already set a precedent for mature campaigning and the use of Western style pre-election tactics. Whether it will help them at the polls is another matter, of course, but it makes a change from the deeply depressing and boring mass rallies favored by most of the other candidates.

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.