COUNCIL OF EUROPE OBSERVERS REAFFIRM ARMENIAN ELECTION PRAISE
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
June 26 2007

Observers from the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE)
have reaffirmed their largely positive assessment of the Armenian
authorities’ handling of the May 12 parliamentary elections, while
noting major irregularities in the vote count and tabulation.

"The Parliamentary elections in Armenia, held on 12 May 2007, were
largely held in line with Council of Europe commitments and standards
for democratic elections, although shortcomings remain," they said in
a report unveiled at the ongoing PACE session in Strasbourg on Monday.

"The Armenian Authorities, as well as other electoral stakeholders,
showed the political will to address previous shortcomings and to
improve the conduct of these elections, although some issues remain
unaddressed," concluded the report.

The nearly three dozen PACE members monitored the elections as part
of the International Election Observation Mission (IEOM) that also
comprised representatives of the OSCE and the European Parliament. In
its preliminary May 13 report, the IEOM concluded that the vote
largely conformed to democratic standards.

Still, the OSCE observers, who accounted for the bulk of the 400-strong
IEOM, toned down the praise in a subsequent follow-up statement. They
said counting of ballots in a large number of polling stations and
their subsequent tabulation by district election commissions was
deeply flawed.

The PACE monitors echoed the criticism, saying that the vote count was
"protracted in most cases." They reported "significant errors" in 8
percent of polling stations observed and "deliberate falsifications
of the results" in some of those precincts.

"Regrettably, the situation deteriorated during the tabulation
process," the report said, adding that the process was "generally
disorganized."

Like their OSCE colleagues, the PACE observers deplored the
"inexplicable" delay in the publication by Armenia’s Central Election
Commission of precinct-by-precinct vote results from Yerevan. "In
addition, by a decision of the CEC, the special computer network
was not used by the Yerevan [district election commissions] to enter
their results," read their report.

The report also contains a list of recommendations which its authors
believe would further improve the conduct of Armenian elections. In
particular, they urged the authorities in Yerevan to enact more
amendments to Armenia’s Election Code, ensure a proper vote count and
tabulation, investigate reports of vote irregularities, and address
"intertwinement, at all levels, of political and business interests."

The report also called on the country’s government-controlled
electronic media to set less "exorbitant" prices of campaign
advertising by political parties and individual candidates.