Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
May 13 2007
Head of the OSCE Mission of Long-Term observers expressed hope that
`the election in Armenia will contribute to restoring the trust of
voters in the election process’
Yerevan, May 13. /Mediamax/. OSCE Special Coordinator for the
elections in Armenia, the Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly Tone Tingsgaard expressed opinion in Yerevan today that the
violations, noticed during the parliamentary elections of May 12,
could not influence the results of the voting process.
Mediamax reports that Tone Tingsgaard stated that `these elections
were a clear improvement and that is good for Armenian democracy’.
The statement of the joint Observation Mission of ODIHR/OSCE, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary
Assembly of OSCER and the European Parliament reads that `the
parliamentary elections in Armenia demonstrated improvement from
previous ones and were largely in accordance with international
commitments of Armenia, although some issues remain unaddressed’.
The statement reads that the mission `commended steps taken by the
Armenian authorities to address serious shortcomings, including
amendments to the Electoral Code’.
`The election campaign was dynamic with extensive media coverage.
Election day was calm, with no major incidents reported, but a few
cases of fraud schemes were observed. Some procedural problems arose
during the count and tabulation of votes as well as isolated cases of
deliberate falsifications’, the statement reads.
Leo Platvoet, Head of the PACE delegation said: `We congratulate the
Armenian people on showing the will to hold democratic elections’. He
noted that some challenges remain and the Council of Europe and its
Assembly continue to stand ready to assist Armenia in this process.
Head of the OSCE/ODIHR long-term mission Boris Frlec expressed hope
that `this election will contribute to restoring the trust of voters
in the election process’. At that, he noted, `but the election is not
over’.
`We will continue to follow the post-election developments; only once
they have been concluded, we will have the full picture’, Boris Frlec
stated.–0–