VAZGEN  MANUKYAN

The 1996 presidential election turned into widespread electionfalsification in favor of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, while the opposition candidate Vazgen Manukyan clearly won the election. The administration of Levon Ter-Petrosyan did not concede positions. Even as a result of widespread electionfalsification, according to official data, Vazgen Manukyan received 41% of the vote, while Levon Ter-Petrosyan received 51,3%.

In response to the official election results, opposition candidates Manukyan and Manucharian claimed fraud and appealed directly to the Constitutional Court in late October for new elections. The Court upheld the official election results in late November. Major questions were raised regarding the Court's procedures in this case. 

President Levon Ter-Petrossian was reelected in a controversial multicandidate election in September, which was flawed by numerous irregularities and serious breaches of the election law. The opposition rejected the official election results and asked the Constitutional Court to invalidate the Central Election Commission (CEC) decision on the results and to order a new election.