Armenian Minister of Sport and Youth Hrachya Rostomyan, the last member of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) in the Government, will shortly leave the Government. Rostomyan has said at the Ministry that he will resign soon.

A source in the ruling Republican Party of Armenia has told ArmInfo that Yuri Vardanyan, Advisor to Armenian President, Olympic weightlifting champion, will be the new Minister of Sport and Youth of Armenia.

Stepan Safaryan, number four on the Barev Yerevan Bloc's ticket, expected to obtain 20-30% of votes during the elections to the Elders' Council of Yerevan.

When replying to ArmInfo's correspondent question, he said at today's conference that the voter turnout at the past municipal elections could not be so high - 53.53%. "I am sure that the voter lists were enlarged and the votes were stolen in the ruling party's favor", he stressed. He also pointed out that the bloc managed to retain its votes during the tabulation, however, failed to combat the fraud outside the polling stations. "It's a pity that at the polling stations the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) played opposition games and outside the polling stations - RPA games", he said. He stressed that Barev Yerevan will cooperate with the PAP within the municipal parliament only after the latter declares that it is an opposition force.

Safaryan said that the bloc is not going to put up with the election results and will by all means demand re- tabulation of votes at the polling stations. "During the vote tabulation yesterday, we found some ballots of the Armenian National Congress among the ballots of ARF Dashnaktsutyun. So, it is necessary to recount and check all the
ballots", he said. As regards the statement of Alen Simonyan, another representative of the Barev Yerevan Bloc, who said that it is necessary to refuse the mandates in the Elders' Council of Yerevan to express protest against the unfair elections, Safaryan said that the discussions on that issue will start today. "We respect Simonyan's opinion, but I do not think we'll refuse the mandates", he said.

Elections to the Elders' Council of Yerevan were conducted in all the 12 administrative districts in the city on May 5. The electoral register comprised 816475 people, with voter turnout totaling 53.53% or 437021 voters.  The Elders' Council will elect the Yerevan Mayor. Given that the Republicans received majority of votes, Taron Margaryan will retain his position of the Yerevan Mayor. The RPA obtained 55.89% of votes, PAP - 23.07%, Barec Yerevan - 8.48%, Armenian National Congress - 4.39%, ARF Dashnaktsutyun - 3.8%, Orinats Yerkir - 3.73%, Arakelutyun Party - 0.64 %.

The Republicans won over the  elections in Armenia at all the levels: on 6 May 2012 they took majority in the parliament, on 18 February they gained the victory at
the presidential election and on 5 May  - at the Yerevan Council of Elders election. So the RPA has set absolute hegemony in the political field of Armenia, director of the Caucasus Institute, Aleksandr Iskandaryan, told journalists today.

"There were numerous pre-conditions for the victory of the RPA. First of all, 49% of votes gathered by the RPA candidate, Serzh Sargsyan, at the presidential election on 18 February. It would be simply naive to expect that after that RPA would gain less votes at the Yerevan Council of Elders election. So, nothing extraordinary happened on 5 May. Such distribution of forces was predictable especially after the PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan's refusal to run for president", - Iskandaryan said.

Rostelecom company has started rendering high speed Internet (television soon) in Kapan town of Syunik region of Armenia, press-service of Rostelecom
reported.

Kapan residents have gained an opportunity of access to the high speech Internet offered through fibre optic cable. On 2 May Rostelecom also opened a service office for clients. Thanks to the memorandum signed with Kapan mayor's office, Rostelecom will offer free of charge WiFi in four parks of Kapan.

 Rostelecom will contribute to development of information and communication technologies in Kapan. The relevant Memorandum on Cooperation was signed between the Municipality of Kapan and Rostelecom, the company's press release says.  

The source says that the development of these spheres is of a strategic importance to the economy of Kapan and Syunik region in general, because it may create jobs, enhance the living standards of the population and form the middle class. 

In 2013 the key directions of cooperation will be creation and strengthening of the infrastructure for information technologies and telecommunications, construction of a free WiFi network in four parks of Kapan, implementation of educational and other important projects. 

Rostelecom is already providing internet and telephony services and has launched customer service offices in Abovyan, Gyumri, Ashtarak, Vanadzor, and Charentsavan. At the company's stores the citizens can buy computers and accessories. The company's services will shortly be available in the towns of Kajaran, Armavir, Metsamor, Hrazdan, as
well as in Erebouni, Ajapnyak, Davidashen communities of Yerevan.   

To recall, in late 2012 Rostelecom OJSC (Russia) launched retail sales of telecommunication services in Armenia under its brand via GNC-ALFA CJSC, its subsidiary in Armenia. Having entered the retail market under the brand of Rostelecom, GNC-ALFA CJSC started providing telephony and internet services to individuals.

GNC-ALFA became the subsidiary of Rostelecom after the latter had purchased the former's 75%-1 share from a group of investors for $22.5 mln in early Feb 2012 (as of the transaction date, it was 682 mln RUR according to the exchange rate of the Bank of Russia).

Once the results of the May 5 municipal elections are summed up, the electoral cycle in Armenia will take a four-year pause. The opposition will have to use it for consolidating
its efforts, but it is hard to imagine that Barev Yerevan Bloc and Prosperous Armenia Party will agree to consolidate, Director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan told journalists on Monday.

He said that most of the political parties in Armenia seek to win elections through inertia but any victory requires preparations and the success of the Republican Party in the last elections was due exactly to its active preparatory work.

"So, the opposition's only hope is consolidation, but the success of Raffi Hovannisian in the presidential race, when all the other opposition parties were not in, and the results of the past municipal elections, when all of them were in, prove that this is hardly possible," Iskandaryan said.

The ex Chief of Special Investigation Service Andranik Mirzoyan has failed to do what he was supposed to, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said while introducing the newly
appointed Chief Vahram Shahinyan to the staff of the service.

The press service of the Armenian President reports that Mirzoyan has failed to strengthen the service and to turn it into an independent executor of justice. "This service cannot be just an executor of others' will. It needs people who are ready to protect justice and not to let anybody curb our country's development," the President said.

 Famous opera singer Montserrat Caballe and the Youth Orchestra of Armenia will give a concert in Yerevan. The press service of the Orchestra told ArmInfo that the concert will take place on June 9. 

Montserrat Caballe is a Spanish operatic soprano. She has sung a wide variety of roles, but is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. Caballe's international breakthrough came in 1965 when she substituted for an indisposed Marilyn Horne in a semi- staged performance of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at New York's Carnegie Hall. One of her rare excursions into the world of pop music, Caballe's duet with rock singer Freddie Mercury of Queen,
"Barcelona", became a hit single in 1988, accompanied by an album of the same name. The title track later became the anthem of the 1992 Summer Olympics which was hosted by Caballe's native city, and appeared again in the pop music charts throughout Europe.

The Youth Orchestra of Armenia was founded in November 2005, with the efforts of the students of the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. Sergey Smbatyan, violinist and prize-winner in international competitions, is the chief conductor and artistic director of the orchestra. The orchestra has performed in many well-known halls of the world, including Opera Garnier (Paris), Konzerthaus (Berlin), Dr. Anton Philipszaal (the Hague), Grand Hall of Conservatory (Moscow), Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels). Since 2009 the orchestra has been a member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras.

 Police has filed 4 lawsuits on violations during Yerevan Council of Elders election.

As website of the Police reported, three lawsuits were filed linked with an attempt of revoting at the ballot stations  8/23, 11/32 and 4/23 in Malatia-Sebastia, Shengavit and Arabkir administrative districts. The forth was linked with an attempt to vote for another person at the ballot station 7/18  of Malatia-Sebastia district.

 The most important is to do everything in line with the law at a ballot station, and what is happening outside it, is a problem of the society but not the authorities, director of the "Sociometer" sociological centre, Aharon Adibekyan, said at today's press-conference when commenting on the results of the Yerevan Council of Elders election.

He said that low percentage gained by the opposition at the election is a result of their bad work. "Perhaps, 4-5% were falsified. However, they did not affect the results of the
election, as anyway, these votes belonged to the ruling RPA or Prosperous Armenia Party, but not the opposition", - he said. He also added that the main mistake of the opposition was casting the municipal election like a political process, but citizens watch them in quite another way. "In this context, the PAP was acting correctly. The first in the PAP list, Vartan Oskanian, was conducting political agitation, and the third in the list, Gurgen Arsenyan, - the economic one", - he said.

Adibekyan thinks that ARFD and Orinats Yerkir party should seriously think about their future. "They should stop their games and set up a coalition with the authorities", - he said. He thinks that "Baren, Yerevan" bloc gathered 8,48% of votes only thanks to personal rating of its founder, Raffi Hovannisian.

 Stewart Dickson (United Kingdom, ILDG) Head of the Delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe observing the May 5 elections to the Council of Elders of Yerevan is concerned over possible voter bribery and misuse of administrative resources.

The observer told media, Monday that members of the delegation monitored over 100 polling stations on May 5. The delegation was informed that voters were pressed and directed to vote for certain candidates.  There were reports on voter bribery, he said. In this light, Stewart Dickson said, the delegation urges the Armenian authorities to put an end to the atmosphere of fear and money during elections. He is sure that such reports cast shadow on the quality of elections and break the public trust in the election system regardless of whether those reports are reliable or not. Nevertheless, the elections were peaceful, in his opinion.

The observer said that before elections they met with the political forces running to the Elders' Council of Yerevan and will discuss the voting outcome with them to listen to their viewpoints. Dickson said that the final report will be published within the coming weeks.

The CoE representative said he sees some progress in Mass Media freedom, anti-corruption measures, and in the system of checks and balances.

Elections to the Elders' Council of Yerevan were conducted in all the 12 administrative districts in the city on May 5. The Elders' Council will elect Yerevan Mayor. Given that the Republicans received majority of votes, Taron Margaryan will retain his position of the Yerevan Mayor. The Republicans received 55.89% of votes or 235512 votes.

The electoral registered comprised 816475 people, with voter turnout totaling 53.55% or 437212 voters.  Prosperous Armenia Party with Vartan Oskanian took the second place with 23.07% of 97189 votes. Barev Yerevan opposition bloc with Armen Martirosyan took the third place with 8.48% or 35732 votes. The bloc is part of Heritage Party
led by Raffi Hovannisian, who received 42.9% of votes at the past presidential elections in Feb 2013.

Given that the threshold to the city council is 6% for parties and 8% for blocs, only the given parties were elected to the Elders' Council of Yerevan. Armenian National Congress Party received 4.39% of 18499 votes. ARFD received 3.8% or 15999. Orinats Yerkir received 3.73% or 15733 votes. Arakelutyun received 0.64% or 2692 votes.

Orinats Yerkir Party has congratulated all the three political forces elected to the Yerevan Council of Elders - Republican Party, Prosperous Armenia Party, Barev Yerevan Bloc.

In its statement the party underlines that the elections were marked with mass voter bribery. The party highlights also the influence of the local criminal authorities creating atmosphere of fear among citizens on the voting result. Orinats Yerkir had been alarming of all that throughout the voting process, the statement says.

"Nevertheless, elections and their outcome is a fact and we thanks all voters who supported Orinats Yerkir," the party says.

Earlier, Head of the Orinats Yerkir Party Cmapaign Headquyarters Khachik Haroutiunyan said that the party did not expect such result (3.73% -ed.). Acting Minister of Emergency Situations Armen Yeritsyan topped the party's list.

Elections to the Elders' Council of Yerevan were conducted in all the 12 administrative districts in the city on May 5. The Elders' Council will elect Yerevan Mayor. Given that the Republicans received majority of votes, Taron Margaryan will retain his position of the Yerevan Mayor. The Republicans received 55.89% of votes or 235512 votes.

The electoral registered comprised 816475 people, with voter turnout totaling 53.55% or 437212 voters.  Prosperous Armenia Party with Vartan Oskanian took the second place with 23.07% of 97189 votes.  Barev Yerevan opposition bloc with Armen Martirosyan took the third place with 8.48% or 35732 votes. The bloc is part of Heritage Party
led by Raffi Hovannisian, who received 42.9% of votes at the past presidential elections in Feb 2013.

Given that the threshold to the city council is 6% for parties and 8% for blocs, only the given parties were elected to the Elders' Council of Yerevan. Armenian National Congress Party received 4.39% of 18499 votes. ARFD received 3.8% or 15999. Orinats Yerkir received 3.73% or 15733 votes. Arakelutyun received 0.64% or 2692 votes.

The violations during the Yerevan Council of Elders election happened chiefly because of the opposition forces, as major part of the electoral commissions consisted
of representatives of the opposition forces, they also had many agents, and could organize the needed control over the election, the leader of the "Electoral systems" centre, Vahram Vardanyan, said at today's press-conference.

He assured that the opposition and authorities by joint efforts organized fraud of the Yerevan Council of Elders election. He said that their centre was conducting the monitoring mission at the electoral districts 11 and 12 of Shengavit and Erebuni. He also added that the atmosphere was tense at several ballot stations, overcrowding and ballot stuffing was fixed, the actions of journalists and observers were limited and falsification was noticed during votes accounting. 

He also added that equality mark may be put between the positive and negative elements during the election. Touching on the quality of the electoral process, he said: "I think that the quality of these election was better than that of the presidential ones", - Vardanyan said.

For his part, chairman of public organization "Federation of youth clubs of Armenia", Atom Mkhitaryan, said that their monitoring mission is satisfied with the quality of the past Yerevan Council of Elders election. The observers of their mission visited 100 ballot stations on 5 May and fixed a little overcrowding and the presence of a big number of agents.

Elections to the Elders' Council of Yerevan were conducted in all the 12 administrative districts in the city on May 5. The Elders' Council will elect Yerevan Mayor. Given that the Republicans received majority of votes, Taron Margaryan will retain his position of the Yerevan Mayor. The Republicans received 55.89% of votes or 235512 votes. The electoral registered comprised 816475 people, with voter turnout totaling 53.55% or 437212 voters.  Prosperous Armenia Party with Vartan Oskanian took the second place with 23.07% of 97189 votes.  Barev Yerevan opposition bloc with Armen Martirosyan took the third place with 8.48% or 35732 votes. The bloc is part of Heritage Party led by Raffi Hovannisian, who received 42.9% of votes at the past presidential elections in Feb 2013.

Given that the threshold to the city council is 6% for parties and 8% for blocs, only the given parties were elected to the Elders' Council of Yerevan. Armenian National Congress Party received 4.39% of 18499 votes. ARFD received 3.8% or 15999. Orinats Yerkir received 3.73% or 15733 votes. Arakelutyun received 0.64% or 2692 votes.

Our country is holding on to belief that the settlement of the Armenia-Turkey relations will be continuous in the South Caucasus, especially in case of taking concrete moves to
resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey's Trade Minister Hayati Yazici said. 

Anadolu Agency quotes him as saying that Turkey was one of the first states to recognize Armenia's independence.

He said that Turkey gives high priority to cooperation in the South Caucasus and in this context signed protocols on establishment of diplomatic relations in 2009.

He also said that Armenian-Turkish trade turnover made up $29,859 in Q1 2013.

The Central Electoral Commission of Armenia will consider all complaints concerning the past municipal elections, Chairman of the Commission Tigran Mukuchyan told journalists on  Monday.  "We have received a complaint from member of Barev Yerevan bloc Zaruhi Postanjyan, who complains of certain deficiencies at some polling stations, and we will thoroughly inquire into them," Mukuchyan said.

When asked if the opposition's complaints might influence the results of the elections, Mukuchyan said that most of them are just a subjective attitude of a protesting force.

"We are considering all the complaints received and have already disproved some of them," he said.

The consequences of the Republican Party's authoritarian rule will be seen soon, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) says in comment on the results of the past elections into Yerevan's Elders Council.

"Our goal was to try to change the moral-psychological atmosphere in Armenia and to convince our people that their country does have future. We tried to prove that the RPA's monopoly had to be stopped.  But the ruling party did its best to retain its rule over Yerevan and Armenia, and the consequences of this will be seen very soon. We regret that this time too we have failed to convince people that they were free to choose. We will not depart from our principles and will continue our efforts to achieve improvements in the country," says ARFD.

 Pre-Parliament public initiative is expected to organize a rally in Gyumri on May 9, the initiative reported.

Pre-Parliament will introduce its program and practical steps for a new quality state building and for bringing the country out of the current situation. The program provides for power change through unification of the people and involvement of every citizen. Pre-Parliament is sure that it is necessary to avoid the trap of the authorities - fake elections.

Garegin Chugaszyan, Alek Yenigomshyan,  Zhirayr Sefilyan, Tigram Khzmalyan, Sashur Kalashyan and others members and supporters of the Pre-Parliament will speak at the rally.

At the municipal elections on May 5 Prosperous Armenia Party played the role of the key mechanism of the regime and showed the huge gap between it and the opposition, Manvel Sargsyan, Director of ACNIS, told ArmInfo.

"The presidential election in Feb 2013 that brought Raffi Hovannisian 42.9% in Yerevan even by official data, inspired the authorities for new 'deeds.' As usually, Gagik Tsarukyan's party became the hero of their undertakings. It is due to PAP's participation in the so-called elections to the Elders' Council that the votes of the Yerevan
citizens were split. This happened not without help of the newly created Armenian National Congress Party that had been heaping praises upon Tsarukyan's party and calling it opposition for a long time," Sargsyan said.

He is sure that as a political force subjected to re-branding, ANC was to assert itself and the municipal elections were a good chance for it. However, the party failed to do it. Asked about the ARFD's motives to run to the Elders' Council of Yerevan, Sargsyan said that ARFD is 'a registered party that has neither significance nor an exact stance on any issue.'

"There are no elections in Armenia now. There are procedures of distributing votes. This was obvious at all the previous elections. The authorities seize majority of votes and distribute the remainder to the parties as trappings of power. What really surprises me in this routine is the poor judgment of the local political parties that cannot realize what kind of machine has been launched against them. That is why the political life in Armenia has annoyed everyone. The political parties are just silly with their unjustified ambitions," Sargsyan said.

Elections to the Elders' Council of Yerevan were conducted in all the 12 administrative districts in the city on May 5. The Elders' Council will elect Yerevan Mayor. Given that the Republicans received majority of votes, Taron Margaryan will retain his position of the Yerevan Mayor.

Prosperous Armenia Party with Vartan Oskanian took the second place with 23.07% of 97189 votes. Barev Yerevan opposition bloc with Armen Martirosyan took the third place with 8.48% or 35732 votes. The bloc is part of Heritage Party led by Raffi Hovannisian, who received 42.9% of votes at the past presidential elections in Feb 2013.

Given that the threshold to the city council is 6% for parties and 8% for blocs, only the given parties were elected to the Elders' Council of Yerevan. Armenian National Congress Party received 4.39% of 18499 votes. ARFD received 3.8% or 15999. Orinats Yerkir received 3.73% or 15733 votes. Arakelutyun received 0.64% or 2692 votes.

 Today, the maximum buying rates at commercial banks of Yerevan were 415 drams for 1 dollar, 543drams for 1 EUR and 13,3 drams for 1 Russian ruble. The minimum
selling rates stood at 416,8 drams for 1 dollar, 547 drams for 1 EUR and 13,4 drams for 1 Russian ruble.

 Central Electoral Committee members signed a protocol on the preliminary result of the elections to the Elders' Council of Yerevan on May 6.

"The electoral registered comprised 816475 people, with voter turnout totaling 53.55% or 437212 voters. Territorial election committees were issued 829,000 ballot-papers, with 391,039 ballots being cancelled, and 15,250 being recognized invalid. The total number of inaccuracies was 288. The final result of the elections will be published on May 12, a week after voting," said Tigran Mukuchyan, Head of the CEC.

By preliminary data of the CEC's e-calculation of votes from all the 464 polling stations, the ruling Republican Party of Armenia wins the elections to the Elders' Council of Yerevan.  Incumbent Mayor Taron Margaryan tops the RPA party list.  The Republicans received 55.89% of votes or 235512 votes.

Elections to the Elders' Council of Yerevan were conducted in all the 12 administrative districts in the city on May 5. The Elders' Council will elect Yerevan Mayor. Given that the Republicans received majority of votes, Taron Margaryan will retain his position of the Yerevan Mayor.

Prosperous Armenia Party with Vartan Oskanian took the second place with 23.07% of 97189 votes. Barev Yerevan opposition bloc with Armen Martirosyan took the third place with 8.48% or 35732 votes. The bloc is part of Heritage Party led by Raffi Hovannisian, who received 42.9% of votes at the past presidential elections in Feb 2013.

Given that the threshold to the city council is 6% for parties and 8% for blocs, only the given parties were elected to the Elders' Council of Yerevan. Armenian National Congress Party received 4.39% of 18499 votes. ARFD received 3.8% or 15999. Orinats Yerkir received 3.73% or 15733 votes. Arakelutyun received 0.64% or 2692 votes.