PUBLIC COMMISSION SENDS A LETTER ALARMING RUDE VIOLATIONS TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Panorama.am
18:40 10/04/2007

Public commission, monitoring elections, has sent a letter to several
international organizations today, among them OSCE/ODIHR, Council
of Europe Venice Commission, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch and
Transparency International.

Ex-ombudsman, Larisa Alaverdyan, member of Republic Party political
board, Artak Zeinalyan and chairman of "Supreme Council" Parliamentary
Club NGO, Ruben Torosyan signed under the letter. Copies are sent
to the Armenian president, embassies of Council of European member
states and USA, OSCE/ODIHR observation mission, Council of European
Monitoring Commission.

The letter alarms "rude violations of international standards" in
terms of 2007 elections. The letter says these violations will have
"significant affect on voting results." The letter further details
violations by political parties.

The authors say two political parties, which aspire for majority, are
engaged "in massive illegal propaganda, creating unequal competition
conditions, which never took place in the past elections." The letter
says all TV channels aired programs in favor of the ruling political
parties and their supporters "before the launch of the pre-election
campaign." They also refer to "application of administrative resources,
violation of free will, depriving some organizations from the right to
engage in observation mission, refusal of courts to accept applications
on election disputes, legislative shortcomings" and so on as examples
of violations.

The authors of the letter ask "to send experts" to Armenia in order
to discuss and evaluate the situation before the elections.