MEMBER OF PACE EUROPEAN PEOPLE’S PARTY: COUNCIL OF EUROPE LEGITIMIZES ANTI-DEMOCRATIC PRACTICE OF ELECTION ADMINISTRATION

arminfo
2008-04-14 18:47:00

ArmInfo. The Council of Europe legitimizes the anti- democratic
practice of election administration, Zsolt Nemeth, a member of the
PACE European People’s Party, said at the hearings of John Prescott’s
report on presidential election observation in Armenia. ArmInfo special
correspondent in Strasbourg reports that the MP was surprised at
the fact that the document only points out the positive assessment
of the course of election and doesn’t reflect the real domestic
political situation after the election. In particular, the MP drew
the attention of his colleagues and the rapporteur to the fact that
there are political prisoners in Armenia.

After the state of emergency had been cancelled, the laws restricting
freedom remained in force, and this change was not discussed with
the Council of Europe, he said. He also stressed that the situation
in Armenia should find a political solution. The European People’s
Party suggests that Armenian authorities should be given a chance to
conduct independent investigation, the opposition should be allowed
to take part in this process, and the CoE will follow the development
of the situation.

If the Armenian authorities fail to display willingness to conduct such
investigation, the Coe and PACE will have to start such investigation,
the MP assured. Nemeth said that the European People’s Party suggests
that election observation should undergo fundamental changes. The
current system is extremely dangerous. Observers come to a country,
stay there for several days, and as a consequence of such observation
the CoE legitimizes the anti-democratic practice of election
administration. "If we are unable to change the current system, let
us not carry out election observation at all", he said. The European
People’s Party has a number of proposals how to introduce fundamental
changes. Armenia’s example confirms that it’s time to introduce quite
new presidential election observation systems, he added.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress