Your trusted source

PACE Standing Committee met today in Tirana. PACE Election Observation Mission to Armenia headed by Baroness Emma Nicholson made a report on Armenia’s parliamentary elections at the meeting.

The 13-page report gives political and legal assessment of the organization of elections – from candidate registration to press freedom environment. Head of Armenian Delegation to PACE, MP David Harutyunyan commented on the report, expressing bewilderment over the report’s assessments.

In particular, David Harutyunyan responded to assertions of “inaccuracies in voter lists” by saying, “…Armenia has made significant progress in creating accurate voter lists, following the recommendations of Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR. The report contains superficial accusations which disregard any reasonable explanations given by the Armenian authorities.”

Mr. Harutyunyan commented on the mention of the large number of new passports in the report.

“The large number of passports issued in 2011-2012 is explained by the fact that Armenia launched national passports 20 years ago, in 1992, with passports valid for 10 years, and, naturally, citizens had to renew their expired passports in 2011-2012.”

Referring to the difference between the birth and death rate in 1990-1994, David Harutyunyan also explained the increase in the number of voters, saying that in 1990-1994 the birth rate exceeded the death rate by about 270 000, thus in 2012 those citizens became eligible to vote for the first time and added to the number of voters.

“To reduce the harmful influence of this biased and unfair report, I am authorized to officially invite OSCE/ODIHR to carry out a post-election mission and to recheck the accuracy of voter lists,” David Harutyunyan said in PACE.

“The report contains manipulations,” Mr. Harutyunyan said and gave several examples as well as compared the report with the OSCE/ODIHR report.

“PACE Election Observation Mission should conduct study and publish an independent report … based not on talk but on real direct studies,” the head of the Armenian Delegation noted.