YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenian police on Saturday arrested dozens of opposition campaigners who took part in a rally demanding a recount in the first round of a presidential election on grounds of irregularities.
Incumbent President Robert Kocharyan vowed to crack down on any threat to public order, and the Defense Ministry accused the opposition of undermining security and said it would step in if necessary.
Stepan Demirchyan, who came second in the first round, accused Kocharyan of resorting to violence against opponents in Armenia, which is situated in a region made strategic by Western oil interests. The next round of the election is on March 5.
“The authorities have switched to blatant violence and it is clear that the people are offended,” Demirchyan told reporters.
The opposition accuses Kocharyan’s campaigners of ballot box stuffing, irregularities in the count and intimidation at polling stations. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe said they had found less evidence of fraud than in previous elections. Police launched dawn raids on opposition campaigners after a day of mass street protests on Friday, arresting some 100 activists for “hooliganism” and herding them to Yerevan courts for a quick trial.
JAIL SENTENCES
Relatives of those arrested said the courts handed out 15-day jail sentences to many that would stop them from campaigning for the next round.
“They are doing it to undermine opposition in the second round,” said Ashot Mehrabyan, father of one Demirchyan supporter appearing in court.
Kocharyan, who fell just short of outright victory in Wednesday’s election, went on television on Saturday to warn the opposition against further protests.
“We will react very strictly to any attempts to upset public order,” Kocharyan said.
The Defense Ministry linked its warning with a protracted conflict with neighboring oil-rich Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“Let us not forget that the war has not finished yet,” the ministry said in a statement.
The West, particularly the United States, has pressed for a clean election race to give the winner a strong mandate to tackle the Karabakh dispute with Azerbaijan.
Karabakh’s Armenians broke away from Azeri rule in 1988 and six years of fighting followed. A cease-fire took hold in 1994 but the issue has defied a long-term solution.
Some 25,000 opposition supporters gathered in Yerevan on Friday, demanding the cancellation of first round results. Yerevan mayor Robert Nazaryan said his office did not authorize the rally and accused the protesters of disturbing public order.
Nazaryan warned the opposition against a planned gathering on Sunday, but Demirchyan said he saw it as a simple “meeting with the people” and was not going to bow to pressure.
Armenia’s electoral commission put off announcing official results after receiving complaints about voting irregularities.
Kocharyan, seeking a second five-year term, was credited with 49.8 percent of votes. Demirchyan scored 28.3 percent.
Third-placed candidate, former Yerevan Mayor Artashes Geghamyan, won 17 percent and is now critical to the outcome. He has not yet announced his backing for either Kocharyan or Demirchyan.
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