13։10 - A few minutes ago Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s (LTP) HQ in Yeghegnadzor reported that bribes were being handed out from a silver Honda vehicle in the village of Malishka. The only numbers legible on the official license plate were - 004 and 80. Some of the village residents stated that the bribes were being handed out in the name of Ara Abrahamyan, President of the Russian-Armenian Union. Others believed that Levon Sargsyan, brother of presidential candidate Serzh Sargsyan, was behind the bribe giving.

13։00 - A Car Chase in Gyumri

Passengers in a black BMW with no license plate parked outside the Gegham Saryan School in Gyumri have been reported to be slipping money into the passports of prospective voters and directing them to vote for Serzh Sargsyan. Mikayel Hayrapetyan, President of the Conservative Party, was able to videotape the incident and his care is now being followed by a group of ‘skinheads'. Hayrapetyan has notified the police but they haven't yet responded to the call.

All Is Not Well in Nor Hadjin

«Fatherland and Honor» political party President Garnik Margaryan reports that in the town of Nor Hadjin in Kotayk Marz two polling stations aren't properly furnished and that election committee staffers are seated right beside the ballot booths. Widespread election infractions are taking place.

12:47 - Artashes Avoyan, from Artur Baghdasaryan’s Campaign HQ, reports that they’ve already registered violation both in the Marzes and in the capital. Fighting and scuffles were reported from the 11/04 polling station in Shengavit. 5 cases of double voting have been registered at the 8/08 polling station in the Malatia-Sebastia district where the situation is described as ungovernable. Violations have also been registered in the Martuni villages of Nerkin Getashen, Tzovinar and Zolakar.

12:45 - Nelly Khosrovyan, from Artur Baghdasaryan’s HQ, reports that around 11 A.M. in the southwestern B1 neighborhood (Bangladesh) voter registration violations have occurred. Some voters have attempted to cast a second ballot with already stamped passports.

Some 30-40 individuals were forced to cast “open” ballots at the Kindergarten #255 in Shengavit. Pressure was brought to bear on election committee staffers and appointed observers.

A fight broke out at Polling Station #8 in the 8th Election District. Members of the Republican Party were reported to have instigated the melee.

12:44 - Voter Roll Violations

Hovhannes Igityan, who heads Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s HQ in Avan, states that voter rolls are being used to ferry people to polling stations free of charge. Two voter rolls had been obtained by HQ staffers. Upon hearing the news, supporters of Serzh Sargsyan raided the Avan HQ. The LTP headquarters notified the police who are presently keeping the HQ under watch. According to H. Igityan, one of the lists included information as to how to best use it. In the list were the names of the residents of Building #41 on Narekatsi Street in Avan.

Reports from Dilijan state that buses displaying the “Araj Hayastan” (Forward Armenia) banners of Serzh Sargsyan’s campaign have been ferrying students registered in Tavush but studying in Yerevan to their homes throughout the Marz to vote since early this morning. The same source reports that 5,000-dram election bribes are being handed out in Dilijan, but that it isn’t widespread.

12:40 - School Under Siege

The campaign headquarters of presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan reports that the passports of those voting at the 13/08 and 13/09 polling stations at Public School #120 in the Erebuni district aren’t being stamped. They also report that individuals are standing right besides the ballot boxes and directing voters who to cast their ballot for. Some 30-40 unidentified individuals are mulling about outside.

12:30 - 11.2 % of Voters Have Already Cast Ballots

The Central Election Committee has announced that as of 11 A.M. a total of 265,533 ballots have been cast throughout the Republic of Armenia’s 1923 polling stations. This constitutes 11.2 % of all eligible voters.
12:00 - “Hetq” reporter Shushan Stepanyan reports that groups of people are assembling in front of the Davitashen 5/6 polling station and that a group of youths are taking notes regarding the people entering to vote. When our reporter informed the group that they can only assemble at a spot 50 meters from the polls one of the youths threatened him saying that he should find something else to do or else.

Artur Martirosyan, an observer from Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s team at the 5/5 polling station in Davitashen, notified our reporter that he was denied access to the site despite the fact that Tamara Nurijanyan, an observer from Serzh Sargsyan’s team, was seen standing right next to the ballot boxes. According to Artur Martirosyan, the passports of those voting weren’t being stamped on the paper pages but rather on the poly-laminated covers.

11:50 - “A1+” reports that at 11:20 AM, at #6 Zavaryan Street, a group of  ‘thick-necked’ inebriated youth dressed in black and wearing black caps attempted to break the news channel’s video camera. They approached the “A1+” cameraman as he was getting out of his car. They proceeded to beat the cameraman, grabbing the cassette and destroying it. They tried to break the video camera as well but failed.

One of the youth started to curse the “A1+” cameraman and “Zhamanak-Yerevan” newspaper reporter Heghineh Manukyan when he saw candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s campaign booklet in the car.

When “A1+” telephoned the office of the OSCE/ODIHR to report the incident they were told that there were no available observers to send out.

12:13 - A resident of Avan informed Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s central headquarters that passport covers were being stamped in the 1/09 polling station in Avan. This is an election violation.

Citizen Armen Sahradyan reports that a group of guys loyal to Samvel Aleksanyan (Lfik Samo), a businessman and deputy of the National Assembly, had converged on the 8/09 polling station.

In the village of Rya Taza (former district of Aparan) located in the Aragatzotn Marz, Mesrob Adamyan, an observer from Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s team, was forcibly removed from the polling station and a ferocious dog was unleashed upon him. During the melee 132 ballots were stuffed into the ballot box. Rya Taza Village Mayor Broyan was responsible for staging the incident.

In the village of Yrnjatap (former district of Aparan) located in the Aragatzotn Marz, appointed observers from Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s team at the polling station requested the presence of international monitors since some 30 voters cast “open” ballots and local election committee staffers refused to register the infraction. National Assembly Deputy Lyova Khachatryan who has declared that the victory of Serzh Sargsyan is a matter of personal pride for him controls the district.
12:04 - Tigran Karapetyan has already fulfilled his civic duty by casting his ballot. His headquarters stated that the presidential candidate returned in high spirits. The headquarters has yet to report any election violations.
11:50 - Mariam Poghosyan, from the headquarters of Artashes Geghamyan, reports no election violations have been registered.

11:50 - Heghineh Bisharyan from the election headquarters of candidate Artur Baghdasaryan, reports than 3 violations have already been noted in the Malatia district. Fake ballots are being handed to voters still in buses. Fake ballots have been handed out in Zeytun as well. Voters in the Nerkin Getashen have been forced to cast “open” ballots. A representative form Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s campaign, observing developments in Abovyan’s 28/6 polling station, was physically beaten. A reporter from Radio Liberty who witnessed the incident informed the headquarters of the news.

11:35 - Election Bribes in Malishka

Starting at 10 P.M on February 18th, supporters of presidential candidate Serzh Sargsyan began handing out election bribes in the village of Malishka, Vayots Dzor Marz, from a “Jeep” SUV parked across from the Mayor’s Office. Members from Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s campaign headquarters in Yeghegnadzor were able to videotape the incident. The headquarters reported the news to foreign observers who formally registered the complaint. Edvard Asatryan, a member of the headquarters’ staff, confirmed the incident.

11:30 - Reporting from the 9/25 Election District in Dzoragyugh, S. Vardumyan, an appointed representative from candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s campaign team, stated that recently 6 public route vans were taking groups of people to vote. These vehicles carried the following government plates: 0513s, 0514s; Route #4 van - 1074s; Route #27 van - 2874s; and 0503s, 0505s. The vans’ official plate numbers weren’t concealed. S. Vardumyan confirms that the observers and video cameras registered this development.

11:25 - A voter in the neighborhood of Davtashen, Yerevan, stated that a Route 28 public minivan was ferrying groups of voters to the 5/10 and 5/11 polling stations located in the kindergarten of Davtashen’s 2nd district. The van in question was a Ford.
 
11:20 - According to reports from Vahan Hovhannisyan’s headquarters no election infractions have yet to be registered. 3199 people have already cast ballots in the Aragatzotn Marz.

11:19 - Dustrik Mkhitaryan, from the headquarters of Vazgen Manukyan, reports that 50-60 individuals entered the 3/29 polling station in the Zeytun district and cast ballots based on extra voter rolls.

11:10 - Ballots Already Checked-Off

Reports from the headquarters of candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan in Malatia-Sebastia (Yerevan) state that paper ballots already checked off for Serzh Sargsyan are being handed to voters showing up at the 8/08 and 8/09 polling stations located at the Tekeyan School in the 7/21 Election District. A fake passport was observed at the 7/19 Election District. The police took the observer who reported the incident away. Reports from the Malatia-Sebastia campaign headquarters state that members of the Police are actively working for the benefit of the government’s candidate.

Election Bribes

Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s Malatia-Sebastia campaign headquarters reports that election bribes are being handed out in the backyard of the Andranik School in the southwestern B3 district. Voters taking the bribes are then herded into vans and taken to the polling stations.

9:30 - Minivans outside the Republican Party of Armenia Headquarters

Since this morning minivans have been parking by the Yerevan Cinema House that is located by the headquarters of the Republican Party of Armenia. Four vans had a 99 in their license plate number and three the number 104. One of the drivers stated that they wouldn’t be going out on their routes today and were awaiting directions from the headquarters.
08:00 - According to the statement of the Central Election Committee all 1923 polling stations across Armenia were opened as of 8 A.M. Votes can be cast until 8 P.M.

Police Department statistics report that there are a total of 2,328,320 persons listed on the voter rolls. A total of 2,390,000 ballots were printed. All polling stations have been provided with an extra 3% of the required paper ballots.

14,584 local individuals and 620 foreign observers are monitoring the elections.
a. 309 monitors from the OSCE/ODIHR
b. 155 monitors from the CIS
c. 53 monitors from the OSCE-Parliamentary Assembly
d.38 monitors from the CIS-Inter-Parliamentary Congress
e.7 from the European Parliament
f. 30 monitors from the Council of Europe