Armenian presidential election, 2003
Encyclopedia
The 2003 Armenian Presidential election took place in Armenia
on 19 February and 5 March 2003. No candidate received a majority in the first round of the election with the incumbent
President
Robert Kocharyan winning slightly under 50% of the vote. Therefore a second round was held and Kocharyan defeated Stepan Demirchyan
with official results showed him winning just over 67% of the vote. However both the opposition and international observers said that the election had seen significant amounts of electoral fraud
and the opposition did not recognise the results of the election.
defeating Karen Demirchyan
. The election had been held when Levon Ter-Petrossian
was forced to resign as President after agreeing to a plan to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
, which his ministers, including Kocharyan, had refused to accept.
On the 7 August 2002 the Central Election Commission
of Armenia announced that the presidential election would be held on the 19 February 2003, with nominations required by 6 December 2002. Candidates had to supply 40,000 signatures of support in order to be able to stand in the election.
President Kocharyan had already announced that he would be running for re-election and the opposition parties attempted to agree on a united candidate to oppose him but were unsuccessful. Former President Levon Ter-Petrossian also contemplated running in the election but ultimately decided not to stand.
saying that President Kocharyan received about five times as much coverage during the campaign as all the other eight candidates combined. Kocharyan campaigned on the record of economic growth during his presidency and got support from several political parties, while his campaign was run by the defence minister Serzh Sargsyan. Kocharyan's leading opponent was Stepan Demirchyan
, the leader of the People's Party of Armenia
and the son of Karen Demirchyan, a former Soviet
leader of Armenia and speaker
of the Armenian parliament
who had been assassinated in 1999. Demirchyan ran in the election as an anti-corruption candidate. The other leading candidate was Artashes Geghamyan
a former mayor of Yerevan
, from the National Unity
party.
Opinion poll
s in the run up to the election showed President Kocharyan as likely to win the 50% required in order to avoid a second round. Early results showed Kocharyan winning over half of the vote, but the final results of the first round showed that he had just failed to meet that target and so was forced into a second round against Stepan Demirchyan. This was first time any incumbent president in the Commonwealth of Independent States
had failed to win in the first round of an election.
See-through ballot box
es were used in order to try and minimise any fraud in the election. However the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE), which had sent 200 election monitors to observe the election, described the lead up to the election as having "fell short of international standards in several key respects". Opposition observers at polling station
s reported that ballot stuffing
in favour of President Kocharyan had taken place and one member of the OSCE observers was reported as having described the election as "a disaster".
As in the first round the OSCE reported significant amounts of electoral fraud
and numerous supporters of Demirchyan were arrested before the second round took place. Demirchyan described the election as having been rigged and called on his supporters to rally against the results. Tens of thousands of Armenians protested in the days after the election against the results and called on President Kocharyan to step down. However Kocharyn was sworn in for a second term in early April and the constitutional court upheld the election, while recommending that a referendum
be held within a year to confirm the election result.
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
on 19 February and 5 March 2003. No candidate received a majority in the first round of the election with the incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
President
President of Armenia
President of Armenia is the title of the head of state of Armenia since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.-Democratic Republic of Armenia :*Avetis Aharonyan *Avetik Sahakyan *Avetis Aharonyan -Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and Armenian...
Robert Kocharyan winning slightly under 50% of the vote. Therefore a second round was held and Kocharyan defeated Stepan Demirchyan
Stepan Demirchyan
Stepan Demirchyan is an Armenian politician and son of the Communist-era Armenian leader Karen Demirchyan.-Biography:Stepan Demirchyan was born in Yerevan and received his degree from Yerevan Polytechnic Institute in 1981. He is an engineer-electrician and a PhD on Technical Sciences...
with official results showed him winning just over 67% of the vote. However both the opposition and international observers said that the election had seen significant amounts of electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
and the opposition did not recognise the results of the election.
Background
Robert Kocharyan had been elected president in the 1998 presidential electionArmenian presidential election, 1998
Presidential elections were held in Armenia on 16 March 1998, with a second round on 30 March. The result was a victory for independent candidate Robert Kocharyan, who won 58.9% of the vote in the second round. Turnout was 63.5% in the first round and 68.1% in the second.-Results:...
defeating Karen Demirchyan
Karen Demirchyan
Karen Demirchyan was a Soviet Armenian communist, First Secretary of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1974 to 1988 and later independent politician...
. The election had been held when Levon Ter-Petrossian
Levon Ter-Petrossian
Levon Ter-Petrossian , sometimes transliterated Levon Ter-Petrosyan or Ter-Petrosian , was the first President of Armenia from 1991 to 1998...
was forced to resign as President after agreeing to a plan to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Nagorno-Karabakh War
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...
, which his ministers, including Kocharyan, had refused to accept.
On the 7 August 2002 the Central Election Commission
Central Election Commission
The Central Election Commission is the name of an organization in a number of countries which is in charge of affairs related to national and local elections...
of Armenia announced that the presidential election would be held on the 19 February 2003, with nominations required by 6 December 2002. Candidates had to supply 40,000 signatures of support in order to be able to stand in the election.
President Kocharyan had already announced that he would be running for re-election and the opposition parties attempted to agree on a united candidate to oppose him but were unsuccessful. Former President Levon Ter-Petrossian also contemplated running in the election but ultimately decided not to stand.
First round
15 people announced that they would stand in election, but in the end 9 candidates stood in the first round of the presidential election. Reporting in the media was seen as being one-sided, with a media monitoring organisationMedia monitoring service
A media monitoring service, a press clipping service or a clipping service as known in earlier times, provides clients with copies of media content, which is of specific interest to them and subject to changing demand; what they provide may include documentation, content, analysis, or editorial...
saying that President Kocharyan received about five times as much coverage during the campaign as all the other eight candidates combined. Kocharyan campaigned on the record of economic growth during his presidency and got support from several political parties, while his campaign was run by the defence minister Serzh Sargsyan. Kocharyan's leading opponent was Stepan Demirchyan
Stepan Demirchyan
Stepan Demirchyan is an Armenian politician and son of the Communist-era Armenian leader Karen Demirchyan.-Biography:Stepan Demirchyan was born in Yerevan and received his degree from Yerevan Polytechnic Institute in 1981. He is an engineer-electrician and a PhD on Technical Sciences...
, the leader of the People's Party of Armenia
People's Party of Armenia
The People's Party of Armenia is a left-wing socialist political party in Armenia....
and the son of Karen Demirchyan, a former Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
leader of Armenia and speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of the Armenian parliament
National Assembly of Armenia
The Azgayin Zhoghov of Armenia is the official name of the legislative branch of the government of Armenia.-History:Until the promulgation of the Hatt-i Sharif of 1839, the patriarch and his clients, within limits, possessed authority over Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire...
who had been assassinated in 1999. Demirchyan ran in the election as an anti-corruption candidate. The other leading candidate was Artashes Geghamyan
Artashes Geghamyan
Artashes Geghamyan is an Armenian politician.Geghamyan, born in Yerevan, finished Chekhov Secondary School in 1966 and graduated from the State Yerevan Polytechnic Institute in 1971. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1972. From 1989 to 1990 he was the Mayor of Yerevan.In 1990,...
a former mayor of Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
, from the National Unity
National Unity (Armenia)
The National Unity is a conservative political party in Armenia. It is currently led by Artashes Geghamyan....
party.
Opinion poll
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
s in the run up to the election showed President Kocharyan as likely to win the 50% required in order to avoid a second round. Early results showed Kocharyan winning over half of the vote, but the final results of the first round showed that he had just failed to meet that target and so was forced into a second round against Stepan Demirchyan. This was first time any incumbent president in the Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
had failed to win in the first round of an election.
See-through ballot box
Ballot box
A ballot box is a temporarily sealed container, usually square box though sometimes a tamper resistant bag, with a narrow slot in the top sufficient to accept a ballot paper in an election but which prevents anyone from accessing the votes cast until the close of the voting period...
es were used in order to try and minimise any fraud in the election. However the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections...
(OSCE), which had sent 200 election monitors to observe the election, described the lead up to the election as having "fell short of international standards in several key respects". Opposition observers at polling station
Polling station
A polling place or polling station is where voters cast their ballots in elections.Since elections generally take place over a one- or two-day span on a periodic basis, often annual or longer, polling places are often located in facilities used for other purposes, such as schools, churches, sports...
s reported that ballot stuffing
Ballot stuffing
Ballot stuffing is the illegal act of one person submitting multiple ballots during a vote in which only one ballot per person is permitted. The name originates from the earliest days of this practice in which people literally did stuff more than one ballot in a ballot box at the same time...
in favour of President Kocharyan had taken place and one member of the OSCE observers was reported as having described the election as "a disaster".
Second round
Some opposition supporters called on Demirchyan to boycott the second round but despite taking part in protests over the conduct of the first round he did participate in the election. Most of the opposition parties rallied behind Demirchyan in the election and a television debate took place between the two candidates. Kocharyan called on voters in the second round to give him "a convincing victory that no-one can question". The official results saw President Kocharyan winning just over two thirds of vote in the second round and thus he was re-elected.As in the first round the OSCE reported significant amounts of electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
and numerous supporters of Demirchyan were arrested before the second round took place. Demirchyan described the election as having been rigged and called on his supporters to rally against the results. Tens of thousands of Armenians protested in the days after the election against the results and called on President Kocharyan to step down. However Kocharyn was sworn in for a second term in early April and the constitutional court upheld the election, while recommending that a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
be held within a year to confirm the election result.