ABRAM BAKHCHAGULIAN: THERE WILL BE NO SURPRISES WITH REGARD TO REGISTRATION OF RA CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR PRESIDENCY

Noyan Tapan
Dec 7, 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. There will be no surprises with
regard to the registration of the nine citizens, who have submitted
documents to the RA Central Electoral Commission for the nomination
of candidates at the RA presidential elections to be held on February
19, 2008. This opinion was expressed by Abram Bakhchagulian, the
Secretary of the RA Central Electoral Commission, during the meeting
with journalists held on December 7.

According to him, the official deadline defined for candidates
for being registered lies between December 31 and January 20, the
registration will start after the New Year holidays.

In response to the questions of journalists, Abram Bakhchagulian
mentioned that the ammendments adopted by the RA Electoral Code
"tend to improve the electoral bureaucratism and the electoral
process." He mentioned that special patterns will be applied in
all the electoral stations for those, who have poor eyesight or who
are blind. The above-mentioned patterns were partly applied in the
parliamentary elections held in May 2007. The Secretary of the Central
Electoral Commission stated that when introducing draft amendments
in the Electoral Code, the 70% of the 65 suggestions made by the OSCE
monitoring mission as a result of the conclusion of the parliamentary
elections has been taken into consideration.

Abram Bakhchagulian also stated that the Central Electoral Commission
will make public the list of the international organizations to
be invited for the purpose of implementing a short-term monitoring
mission at the RA presidential elections in one of the forthcoming
sittings. As regards long-term monitoring missions, according to
Abram Bakhchagulian, the Central Electoral Commission has received no
claim as yet. The Secreatry of the Central Electoral Commission also
declared that the RA Commission has neither received an invitation
to conduct a monitoring mission in the special presidential elections
of Georgia to be held on January 5.