President Sargsyan: Armenia ready to cooperate with observation missions to hold elections in line with international standards
President Serzh Sargsyan received today Jan Petersen, the Head of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) election observation mission for the 2 April parliamentary elections in Armenia.
As the press department at the President’s Office reported, President Serzh Sargsyan stated Armenia attaches great importance to the work of the election observation mission in the period of election preparation and conduct, while the structures representing those missions are viewed in the country as long-term partners for the democracy development and in particular for the improvement of the electoral system and processes.
“That is the reason we are diligently and scrupulously examining the assessments and recommendations of the observation missions, cooperating with the respective structures in the post-election period and try to bring into reality the suggestions made by those observation missions, “ President Sargsyan noted, recalling in that context the adoption of the RA Electoral Code based on consensus as result of the political and public discussions consensus as well as with the direct support of the Venice Commission.
According to the release, the President of Armenia assured the Head of the observation mission that Armenian leadership stands ready to cooperate with all observation missions, including the OSCE/ODIHR mission for holding elections in line with international standards and expect unbiased and accurate assessment of the electoral processes ongoing in Armenia.
Jan Petersen, on his part, has expressed gratitude for the official invitation to carry out election observation mission for the 2 April parliamentary elections in Armenia, mentioning it has been the 11th time the organization has monitored the elections in Armenia, while the methodology and the experience fully correspond to the requirements for the proper observation and conclusions during of the elections.
The Head of the ODIHR election observation mission has noted with satisfaction about the cooperation with the leadership, political parties and other partners over the course of the two weeks while being in Armenia, adding the mission observers are deployed across the country and ready to carry out their mission.