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"Continued Progress Is Key To Ensuring Public Confidence"

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  • "Continued Progress Is Key To Ensuring Public Confidence"

    "CONTINUED PROGRESS IS KEY TO ENSURING PUBLIC CONFIDENCE"

    A1+
    01 February, 2008

    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.
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