YEREVAN, May 26 (Noyan Tapan). Sunday's parliamentary elections in Armenia marked
improvement over the recent presidential voting, but failed to meet international
standards in key areas, concluded an international observation mission led by
the Parliamentary Assemblies of the OSCE and the Council of Europe, and the
OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
The elections was marred by a fatal shooting at a polling
station on the election day. "After a generally peaceful campaign we have
observed an election which represents an improvement in meeting international
standards, despite a number of serious incidents and shortcomings during the
electoral process," said Giovanni Kessler, the Head of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly delegation and special coordinator appointed by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office.
"However, the low turnout is a clear indication of the lack of voter confidence
in the electoral process and political institutions in the country. Enhancing
such confidence is the major challenge to the political leadership in Armenia."
"There was undoubted progress towards meeting international standards despite
a limited number of reported incidents of a very serious nature," added
Lord Russell-Johnston, the Head of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly
delegation. "I hope that those responsible will be held accountable and
that there will be no return to the sense of impunity in the recent presidential
election." "While the legislative framework generally provides a basis
for democratic elections, Armenia's leadership must demonstrate more determination
in order that future elections meet international standards," said Ambassador
Robert Barry, the Head of the OSCE/ODIHR long-term observation mission.
The international observers noted several improvements in comparison with the
recent presidential elections particularly with regard to the campaign and the
media coverage. However, the observers pointed out that these improvements mirrored
a similar development during the previous succession of presidential and parliamentary
elections in 1998 and 1999, which also failed overall to comply with international
standards.
In addition to a generally inadequate performance of the election administration,
the mission again observed a number of irregularities during election day, including
falsification of results, intimidation of observers, and violations of the secrecy
of the ballot during military voting. The international observation mission
stressed that its final conclusion on the extent to which the elections meet
international standards will depend on the transparency of the tabulation and
announcement of results, and the complaints resolution process.