`It’s Your Choice’ believes that `the pre-election campaign in Armenia
sometimes gains inadmissible manifestations’

February 15, 2008

Yerevan /Mediamax/. `It’s Your Choice’ NGO presented today the interim
report of the monitoring of pre-election campaign in Armenia in the
period between January 9 and February 15.

Mediamax reports that, in accordance with the decision of the Central
Electoral Commission (CEC) of Armenia, `It’s Your Choice’ is accredited
as an observer for the upcoming presidential elections in Armenia. The
organization has 4010 observers, represented in all the electoral
areas.

`The pre-election campaign in Armenia proceeds in conditions of rough
struggle, is not always balanced and sometimes gains inadmissible
manifestations’, President of `It’s Your Choice’ organization Harutiun
Hambardzumian stated.

According to the report, in the process of monitoring the following
negative phenomena were registered: cases of hindering the campaigns of
candidates Artur Baghdasarian, Levon Ter-Petrosian and Vahagn
Hovhannisian, use of administrative resource in the pre-election
campaign of Serzh Sarkisian, inaccuracies in the preliminary electors’
lists, inadmissible manifestations of agitation and anti-agitation in
media, unequal distribution of senior positions in area electoral
commission, insufficient information of the electors in the regions,
the inconvenience of polling stations for the disabled.

As positive changes, Harutiun Hambardzumian noted the presence of a
special working group in the General Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia on
operative reaction to the electoral violations, establishment of a
`hotline’ in the Armenian Police, the work of an authorized body for
specification of electors’ lists, as well as the active work of the
`Legal Initiative’ civil group on provision of free legal assistance to
the electors.