Western monitors representing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reaffirmed on Tuesday their cautious assessment of Armenia’s recent parliamentary elections, praising the election campaign but criticizing voting in a “considerable” number of polling stations. In its final report, the largest international vote-monitoring mission deployed in the country by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) again avoided concluding whether the May 6 elections were democratic. “The voting process was orderly and well organized in the large majority of polling stations observed,” says the report. “However, international observers assessed voting negatively in nine per cent of polling stations, which is considerable. This assessment was mainly due to organizational problems, undue interference in the process, generally by proxies, and cases of serious violations, including intimidation of voters.”
The ODIHR mission also negatively assessed one fifth of vote counts observed by its more than 200 members. But it reported only “isolated cases of serious violations” there. The mission further noted a “competitive, vibrant and largely peaceful campaign” that preceded the polls and commended the Armenian media for generally providing “unbiased news coverage of contestants.” But it criticized “misuse of administrative resources” by the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), the official election winner, and other pro-government forces.
Giving more weight to opposition allegations of vote buying, the observers also accused the HHK, the official election winner, and its coalition partner, the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), of violating legal provisions that ban election contenders from providing goods and services to voters.
Full Article: OSCE Reaffirms Armenian Election Verdict – Vote 2012 | ArmeniaNow.com.
