Republican lawmaker does not know any political force that appeared in political arena without offering pre-election bribe (video)
Republican lawmaker Lernik Alexanyan announces that no major incidents were reported during the April 17 mayoral elections in several marzes (provinces) that might affect the outcome of elections. “I would not say that the elections were ideal but the parties have no reason to complain in legal terms. Local elections differ from national elections in the sense that there can be requests from an elder brother or gratuities, but not bribes. As a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), I want to say that our aim is to eliminate this phenomenon as it is becoming more and more dangerous,” Lernik Alexanyan said today. Edgar Arakelyan from the Armenian Revival Party says the latest elections were accompanied by vote buying and electoral fraud - a corrupt election practice applied in the recent years. “They corresponded to national standards in Armenia. People were going to the polls in groups, it was evident that they acted on someone’s request or order,” he said. Mr Arakelyan also dismissed the reports about election bribe distributed by his party saying they have never resorted to that method while the HHK lawmaker said he has not heard of a single political force who appeared in the political arena without offering pre-election bribes. “People do not change,” he said.
