"Never has the voter turnout exceeded 21 000-22 000 in Hrazdan, while 25 480 people reportedly participated in the Sunday vote. This is an unprecedented figure for the city," says Hakob Avagumyan, head of the pre-election headquarters of opposition candidate Sasun Mikayelyan who was running in the local mayoral elections on February 12.
"The unprecedented voter turnout shows that a new technology of vote rigging was used during the elections and the elections were rigged on a state level," he said.
"The local authorities distributed bribe and allowed voters to vote by absentee ballot," Avagumyan elaborated.
Asked whether they are going to appeal the results, Hakob Avagumyan said, "We find it senseless since the heads of state agencies were well aware of the election fraud. Besides, Sasun Mikayelyan's pre-election headquarters has not considered the issue [of appeal] yet."
Remind that member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Aram Danielyan was re-elected Mayor of Hrazdan during the Sunday elections, defeating his rival Sasun Mikayelyan by some 1600 votes.
