ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT CHAIR SAYS VIOLATIONS AT PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ARE POSSIBLE
Regnum, Russia
March 15 2007
Armenia’s society has been developing at a faster rate than its
political forces, Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Member of the
Republican Party Tigran Torossyan said at a news conference on March
15, adding that society is prepared for qualitatively new elections.
A REGNUM correspondent quotes him as saying that the forthcoming
parliamentary elections in Armenia are of exclusive significance,
as, first of all, they will determine the way the country will be
developing within next 20-25 years. "The balance of political forces
in the parliament, formation of the coalition government are secondary
issues; today, the top priority is to conduct fair elections," the
speaker said. European institutions are closely watching the election
process; leadership of Challenges of the Millennium project says
that the program can be suspended, if the elections are held with
violations. At the same time, fair elections are necessary, first of
all, for Armenia, the speaker said adding "it is more important than
several million dollars."
At the same time, Torossyan did not rule out a possibility that
violations can occur at the elections, particularly, by supporters
and members of the Armenian Republican Party (RPA). "RPA has several
dozens thousands members; it is impossible to control each of them
and avouch for everyone," Torossyan noted. According to him, the
key task of all political forces is to respond to violations as soon
as possible, prevent from them and not to allow them affecting the
quality of the forthcoming elections.