The local elections in Hrazdan town were a real test for both the opposition and the ruling authorities - Armen Martirosyan.

The local elections in Hrazdan town were a real test for both the opposition and the ruling authorities Armen Martirosyan, a member of the opposition Heritage party faction in parliament, has said.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Martirosyan praised opposition’s ability to exercise control over the municipal polls in the town on Sunday.

“The opposition was exercising very serious control in Hrazdan,” he said. “If they are able to resort to similar surveillance measures across Armenia in the course of the upcoming parliamentary polls, with the authorities refraining from violence and ballot stuffing, the opposition will have chances to win,” he said.

Martirosyan noted that the Sunday elections in Hrazdan failed to meet what the president, prime minister and the National Assembly speaker had promised.

“There is a wide gap between what they say and what they do,” he added.

Insisting that electoral bribes were widely distributed in the town, the MP said that it is yet another proof that the law enforcement bodies are paralyzed.

“If people massively distribute electoral bribes without the police giving any response, than there must have been a warning from superiors,” he said. “The law enforcement agencies are not government bodies; they are a plaything for the authorities. Our police fulfill the authorities’ instructions only.”

Martirosyan said that the mayoral election in Hrazdan would have had a different outcome if 801 people among those who were given electoral bribes had balloted for the other contender, Sasun Mikaelyan (who represented the opposition Armenian National Congress).