The opposition bloc Armenian National Congress (ANC) will not participate in the 2013 presidential election in Armenia.
 
The ANC’s statement reads in part:

“After rigging the 2008 presidential election and drowning the popular protest against election frauds in blood, the Serzh Sargsyan regime has for five years been doing its utmost to eliminate every possibility of democratic and competitive elections. In defiance of the big promises given to Armenia’s public and to the international community, they rigged the 2009 elections to the Yerevan City Council, 2012 parliamentary elections, as well as all the local elections.

“The election rigging mechanisms have been improved for five years. A government-sponsored criminal system of election bribes and repeated voting has been created, with the involvement of law-enforcement agencies and the ruling party.”