During the May 31 Yerevan elections, a young journalist from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), Manushak Tavrizyan, was not able to watch the vote-counting process because she was thrown out by the election commission.

About 19:45 she visited 08/02 and 08/01 precincts in Malatia-Sebastia. The two precincts were situated in the same school №152.

“I asked for the commission president and introduced myself. He didn’t tell his name, instead ordering to leave the polling centre, that he has no idea about the news organization I represented and started to push me,” said Tavrizyan, who repeated the process at both precincts, before, she reported, they “finally, they pushed me out by force.”

It’s illegal, but effective. If you don’t want people watching the elections, you make them want to leave. Bullying and pressuring of observers was as big a violation as ever during the Yerevan elections on May 31.

 While ballot-stuffing seemed to dominate the list of complaints for the city election, there were numerous reports across the city to different watchdog NGOs about bullying of observers and journalists and sometimes, even physical violence.

 For example, journalist Gohar Vezeryan from Fourth Power newspaper was punched in the stomach by bodyguards of Republican MP Levon Sargsyan at precinct 09/01 at Nalbandyan School. Her crime? To ask why he wasn’t voting in the neighborhood where he lives, Arabkir.

 Meanwhile, at precinct 05/17 at School 93 in Davtashen, a group of men identifying themselves as Republican proxies prowled the precinct grounds. When confronted, one of the men in the group physically attacked a staffer from one of the U.S. AID-funded legal ambulances sent to investigate the incident.

 Artak Kirakosyan, coordinator for the voter rights hotline/legal ambulance run by the Human Rights in Armenia NGO, said these elections actually were no different from the presidential election in February 2008.

 “At first there were many opinions and information that during Yerevan council elections will be used other skills and methods to falsify elections results, but the same violations toward journalists, observers and issues with stuffings,” he said.

Certain precincts had more complaints than others. There were at least three harassment complaints registered at Malatia-Sebastia’s Precinct 08/18, according to the HRA hotline and caucasusreports.com/IREX CMSPA/IWPR reports.

 Arpine Hakyan, an attractive, 24-year-old woman-observer working with Transparency International in Malatia-Sebastia’s Precinct 08/18 yesterday, said she was prepared for being pressured – but she never expected the type of intimidation she received.

One after another, four young men would sidle up to her and rub against her body what she described as a sexual manner.

 “I was so scared,” says Haykyan, who stayed at the station after calling for help from Transparency International.  “I didn’t know what to do.”

In the same precinct 08/18, an observer from Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Gayane Arshkyan is going to take the precinct to court.

“I was doing my job trying to observe the situation, during the vote-counting I asked the head of committee to announce the vote-numbers louder for all of us present, and guys from Republican Party started to push me and ordered not to interrupt, shouting at me,” said Arshakyan.

At precinct 09/03, the Republican party chairman threatened to report voter Alina Kharatyan when she complained someone else had signed in using her name. The police ignored her protests, according to the HRA voter hotline reports.

-By Gayane Avetisyan and Marianna Pepayan/Caucasusreports.com