ARMENIA WILL BE DEPRIVED OF RIGHT TO HAVE DEPUTY DELEGATION IN PACE IF
ELECTORAL RIGGINGS ARE COMMITTED AGAIN, CE ARMENIAN REPRESENTATIVE
SAYS
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The powers of the Armenian
delegation in the PACE will be suspended in case of riggings during
the parliamentary elections. Boyana Urumova, Special Representative of
Council of Europe (CE) Secretary General to Armenia, stated this at
the February 9 press conference. She quoted the Council of Europe
resolution on the commitments and obligations of Armenia, according to
which "none of the elections held in Armenia since the country’s
joining the Council of Europe has been free and fair." B. Urumova said
that the CE waits for the Armenian authorities’ invitation to send an
observer group. According to her, this time the observer group intends
to start its mission before the elections – in April and to follow the
process of pre-electoral campaign. Besides, as B. Urumova underlined,
the CE wants to cooperate with the RA Central Electoral Commission,
having an international expert in his body. In her words, the CE
attaches importance to the existence of equal conditions for all
political organizations and figures participating in elections in
terms of expressing their views in the mass media. She noted that now
the CE Armenia Office together with the Caucasian Media Institute is
conducting a monitoring of independent mass media. Commenting on the
RA defence minister Serge Sargsian’s statement that "it is not a good
thing that the army supports its minister", B. Urumova noted that
"S. Sargsian also said that he is in favor of holding free and fair
elections."