“CONTINUED PROGRESS IS KEY TO ENSURING PUBLIC CONFIDENCE”
Strasbourg, 31.01.2008 - A pre-electoral mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has just completed a visit to Yerevan to assess the political climate and preparations for the forthcoming Presidential election in Armenia. Its main task was to assess progress in the implementation of the electoral framework, as continued progress in the manner in which the election is conducted will be essential to ensure public confidence in the electoral process in this country.
Continued progress is key to ensuring public confidence in democratic election, says PACE delegation
The delegation noted that the parliamentary elections in 2007 had shown progress over previous elections and expressed its hope that this progress would continue during the forthcoming Presidential election on 19 February 2008. It was therefore heartened by the clearly expressed political will of the authorities to address previous shortcomings and to hold fully democratic elections in line with Armenia's commitments to the Council of Europe. In this respect, the delegation welcomes the improvements in the legal framework for these elections, which address a number of recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly. However, it would also like to stress that the democratic conduct of the elections will squarely depend on the electoral framework being fully implemented, both according to the letter and spirit of the law.
Genuinely democratic elections, and the legitimacy of their outcome in the eyes of the people, depend on a high level of public confidence in the electoral process. In that respect, the delegation is concerned with the apparent lack of trust in the electoral process, including in the impartiality of the legal complaints and appeals process, expressed by a number of interlocutors. It therefore strongly recommends that the authorities take all necessary measures to ensure public confidence in the electoral process, especially with regard to the secrecy of the vote and the transparency of the counting and tabulation processes.
While the setup of the voting booths has been changed to impede vote-buying and multiple voting, there is some concern that this may lead to voters inadvertently showing how they voted, especially if large numbers of people are present in the polling stations. The delegation saw a sample voting booth and was convinced that they are designed according to international standards. However, it calls upon the Central Election Commission (CEC) to take all precautions to ensure the secrecy of the vote on election day. Moreover, while the CEC has made laudable efforts to increase the transparency of the tabulation process, these measures did not work fully satisfactorily during the previous parliamentary elections. The delegation hopes that the technical problems encountered at that time have been overcome and recommends that the CEC sets a minimum timeframe during which the results protocols have to be publicly posted at polling stations.
The Election Code ensures a balanced composition of all election commissions, but it was noted that this balance was not reflected in the composition of the leadership troikas of the Territorial Election Commissions. The delegation hopes that this imbalance will not be repeated at the level of the Precinct Election Commissions.
Democratic elections demand a level playing field between all candidates during, but not limited to, the legal campaign period. The delegation therefore regrets the clearly unbalanced media coverage on most broadcast media, including public television, before the official campaign period, as was reported by several monitoring organisations, including by the Election Observation Mission of the OSCE/ODIHR, whose findings - published in its first interim report - the delegation fully supports.
The delegation heard several complaints that the current Prime Minister, who is a Presidential candidate, would have unfair campaign advantages as a result of his decision to maintain his position as Prime Minister during the campaign period. While recognising the legality of the current Prime Minister continuing his functions despite being a candidate, it adds to the responsibility of the government to avoid any perception that administrative resources are abused in favour of, or against, any particular candidate. The delegation welcomes the fact that, until now, the election campaign has taken place in an open and unimpeded climate, but notes reports by some candidates of their difficulties in obtaining campaign offices in some regions.
The delegation is confident that the authorities will address the concerns of the delegation and will continue its efforts to organise a fully democratic Presidential election that will have the full confidence of the Armenian people.
The delegation would like to thank the authorities for their co-operation and assistance during this visit. The Parliamentary Assembly will return to Armenia to observe the Presidential election with a 30-member delegation.
CONTINUED PROGRESS KEY TO ENSURE PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS
Yerevan, 31 January 2008 The pre-electoral mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe visited Yerevan to assess the political climate and preparations for the upcoming Presidential ...MOST RESPONDENTS SHOW INTEREST
The Republic of Armenia will hold a presidential election in nineteen days. A1+ suggested its readers to answer the question, “Are you interested in election processes?”
Over 87 per cent of the respondents ...GEGHAMIAN RECEIVES OBSERVERS
On February 1 Leader of the National Unification Party (AMK) Artashes Geghamian hosted the OSCE Election Observation Mission (EOM) at the head of Gerd Arens.
The meeting lasted about an hour.
“I ...EXPLOSION NEAR FIRST PRESIDENT OFFICE
Two bottles of petrol were blown up at the entrance of the Vanadzor pre-election office for Levon Ter-Petrossian on the night of January 31. A fire broke out on the staircase in the result of the explosion. ...“CONTINUED PROGRESS IS KEY TO ENSURING PUBLIC CONFIDENCE”
Strasbourg, 31.01.2008 - A pre-electoral mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has just completed a visit to Yerevan to assess the political climate and preparations for the ...ARAM HARUTIUNIAN: “OUR RATING IS INCREASING”
“Our rating is increasing day by day,” Leader of the “National Consent” Party (AHK) Aram Harutiunian said on February 1.
Since the official onset of the pre-election campaign, a lot of people, even ...OMBUDSMAN TO OBSERVE ELECTIONS
RA Ombudsman’s Office will actively participate at the electoral processes, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Armen Harutiunian said today.
“Our citizens must be the masters of their votes and their ...NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS COUNCIL HOLDS FIRST SITTING
The first sitting of the National Competitiveness Council of Armenia chaired by the Chairman of the Council Prime Minister Serzh Sarkissian was held on February 1st.
The National Competitiveness Council ...“I SHALL NEVER STAND BEFORE ARMENIANS WITH A HANGING HEAD”
Residents of Malatsia-Sebastia community received presidential candidate Serzh Sarkissian rather “coldly” today.
Probably, the main reason for it was that most of the presentees were schoolchildren ...KOCHARIAN VISITS GENERAL STAFF
On February 1 President Robert Kocharian visited the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia. The President held working consultations with the senior staff of the Ministry of Foreign ...THEY SHARED NO EFFORT TO IMPEDE
On February 1 presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian held meetings at different settlements of Lori Marz. The first meeting was due in Koti Village where residents slaughtered a lamb in honour ...SHOOTING AT SERZH SARKISSIAN’S PRE-ELECTION OFFICE
S. Alexanian in charge of Serzh Sarkissian’s pre-election office reported shooting at their office on 12 Mar Street, Yerevan, at 10.20 a.m. on February 1. The police found out that on the night of January ...
SERZH SARGSYAN CONGRATULATES TEACHERS
THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE MAY USE THE POLITICAL PRISONER CRITERION
LALA BDOYAN TO APPEAL COURT DECISION
OSCE TO HELP ARMENIAN OMBUDSMAN OFFICE MONITOR SITUATION IN ARMED FORCES
THROWING THE BLAME FOR THE 10 MURDERS ON POLITICAL PRISONERS?
SURPRISE ATTACK
IS SHE CONFUSED?
CORTEGE DRIVES IN YEREVAN STREETS
“I SHALL NEVER STAND BEFORE ARMENIANS WITH A HANGING HEAD”
“ARMENIA WILL NEVER BECOME SWITZERLAND”
KOCHARIAN READILY ANSWERS
NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS COUNCIL HOLDS FIRST SITTING
MOST RESPONDENTS SHOW INTEREST
VEHICLES OF TER-PETROSYAN’S SUPPORTERS ARE DETAINED
GLORIOUS VICTORY
- 1786 Birth in Moscow of Hovhannes Nazaryan, a public and cultural figure of the 19th century. He was a member of the court of the Russian Empire, and a State Adviser. (Died 1858, in St Petersburg).
- 1920 Opening of Armenia's State University in Alexandropol (since there was no convenient building in Yerevan). The first rector was Yuri Ghambaryan, Professor of Jurisprudence, who was also known in Europe.
- 1921 At a conference in London, England and France proposed the creation of Armenian National centers. The idea remained on a paper.
- 1927 Birth of Lusine Amara (Armaghanyan). She is an American-Armenian opera singer and a laureate of international competitions.
ARMENIAN NEWS
INTERACTIVE NEWS
INFORMATION
MY ARMTOWN
How to quit smoking?
How to write in Armenian on Windows XP?
All materials published on this website are taken from open sources and are copyrighted by their respective owners. You cannot reproduce or copy any materials published on armtown.com without written consent of original copyright holder. If you want to remove any material, please send us an email with proof of ownership/copyright and your material will be removed immediately. All materials published for information purposes only.