OSCE KICKS OFF ARMENIAN VOTE MONITORING
By Karine Kalantarian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
March 21 2007

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe announced
Wednesday the start of its observation mission for the May 12
parliamentary elections in Armenia which it hopes will be more
democratic than the ones held until now.

As always, the crucial mission will be organized and led by the OSCE’s
election-monitoring body, the Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights (ODIHR). It has already deployed 13 election experts
for that purpose. They will be joined by 29 long-term observers from
various OSCE member states later this week.

The Warsaw-based body also plans to dispatch some 300 short-term
European and American observers to polling stations across Armenia
on voting day. This is slightly more than the number of OSCE/ODIHR
observers who monitored the previous Armenian parliamentary elections
of May 2003. In addition, small groups of monitors are due to be
deployed by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Council of Europe,
and possibly the European Parliament.

Ambassador Boris Frlec, a Slovenian diplomat who will head the
OSCE/ODIHR mission, expressed hope that the elections will mark
significant improvement over the previous Armenian polls that were
marred by serious fraud reported by OSCE observers. "Regrettably,
Armenia’s elections have so far fallen short of OSCE commitments for
democratic elections," he told reporters in Yerevan. "The upcoming
elections is a chance to turn this negative trend around."

Similar hopes have repeatedly been voiced by the United States and the
European Union. The Armenian authorities have assured them that they
are committed to ensuring the freedom and fairness of the upcoming
vote. They point, in particular, to the recently enacted amendments
Armenia’s Electoral Code that are mostly based on Council of Europe
recommendations.

According to Frlec, it is the "political will" of the Armenian
government that will matter the most. "I believe that the recently
amended election code of Armenia provides a sound framework for
democratic elections," he said. "But the real challenge for the
authorities is the implementation, in good faith, of the election
code so that this and future elections will be held in accordance with
[Armenia’s] OSCE commitments. It is all about political will."