Protesters call on international observers not to support falsifiers in Armenian elections

A protest rally was held in front of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHR) in Armenia on January 31 demanding they leave Armenia and not support falsifiers in elections.

The demand applies not only to the OSCE, but also to other observation missions, Armenian political analyst Saro Saroyan told NEWS.am.

"We demand the cessation of support for falsified elections. We know that the number one falsifier is the Central Election Commission, which publishes results that are only expedient for the current regime. In this regard, international observers should not become participants of election fraud,"the analyst said.

Responding to a question about what will be the consequences of the international observers' withdrawal, Saroyan said: "It shows that elections in Armenia are indeed falsified, and the international community agrees with the majority of Armenian society, and shows solidarity with Armenian voters." Furthermore, he said that those involved will try to find a way out of this impasse.

"In fact, the observers can not leave our demands unnoticed. The rest depends on their position," he said.

It should be noted that during a half-an-hour long protest rally none of the OSCE ODIHR observation mission came out of the office to meet with the protesters. Only a few Europeans recorded the rally on their cell phones.

The Armenian presidential election will be held on Feb. 18 from 08:00 to 20:00 local time. These will be the sixth elections in Armenia's history. The president is elected for a term of five years.

Those running for the presidency are the incumbent president and ruling Republican Party leader Serzh Sargsyan, former Prime Minister Grant Bagratyan, chairman of the Heritage Party Raffi Hovhannisyan, Paruyr Hayrikyan, Arman Melikyan, Andreas Ghukasyan, Vardan Setrakyan and the leader of the National Accord Party Aram Harutyunyan.