Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Statement On the 2012 Parliamentary Elections in the Republic of Arm

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Statement On the 2012 Parliamentary Elections in the Republic of Arm

    STATEMENT ON THE 2012 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

    Story from Lragir.am News:
    http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/society26154.html
    Published: 14:13:14 - 11/05/2012

    The parliamentary elections that took place in the Republic of Armenia
    on May 6, 2012 unfortunately do not assist the process of genuine
    democratization of the country and do reflect the lack of political
    will of the authorities to reform elections institutionally.

    Confidence of the Armenian public in the electoral process
    has gradually diminished starting from 1995. All elections were
    marred by widespread harassment, threats, and vote buying, and in
    2008, the elections were followed by tragic events resulting in
    casualties. The need to conduct proper elections and to restore
    public trust in the electoral processes has become a core issue
    in the relationship of Armenia vis-a-vis other states and various
    international organizations; it has been, in particular, reflected
    in resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
    and the Association Agreement talks of Armenia with the European Union.

    Despite these factors and the repeated public promises of the Armenian
    authorities to hold "exemplary" elections, the Armenian public could
    not witness democratic elections in May 2012, either, and both our
    and the international community's expectations were not met.

    Besides certain positive improvements relative to the previous general
    election (such as the mass media securing a "level playing field"
    for the political forces during the campaign, the regulation of the
    distribution of printed campaign materials, the clear assignment of
    polling stations for voters on the voting day, and others), major
    steps have not been implemented to secure fair elections reflecting
    the free will of the voters. Vote buying, abuse of administrative
    resources, political imposition and harassment of employees by the
    public sector and private employers, and the use of numerous other
    illegal "techniques" have affected the voting process and the election
    result to an unprecedented scale. The law-enforcement agencies have,
    as a rule, failed to act in prevention of irregularities and holding
    the guilty ones responsible. Numerous cases of these practices were
    reported by civil society organizations and individual voters.

    Disappearing ink in the passport stamps that were introduced to
    preclude the fraud further exacerbated concerns over inflated voter
    lists.

    The validity of the electoral process was strongly affected by
    widespread poverty - unemployment, lack of protection for individual
    citizens, and impunity for others have deprived scores of citizens of
    the possibility to make a free, informed, and conscious choice. The
    formation of this moral and psychological atmosphere was largely
    due to the fact that the Armenian authorities have so far failed to
    exert sufficient efforts to identify and punish those in charge of
    organizing and carrying out the 1 March 2008 bloodshed, as well as
    those responsible for the fraud in the 2008 and following elections.

    On the eve of the 2012 May election, the National Assembly adopted
    a contentious Law on the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency,
    which allows the interference of the armed forces in the domestic
    political process and was, as such, perceived by many as a threat.

    As civil society representatives engaged in the promotion of human
    rights and democracy, we are profoundly concerned over perpetual
    sophistication and "improvement" of election fraud mechanisms, as
    well as the impunity of those implementing the fraud. We believe that
    both local and international organizations should draw appropriate
    conclusions from yet another failure of Armenia to honor her
    international commitments of implementing democratic reforms.

    We find that the list of voters that participated in the 6 May 2012
    elections must be published in order for democratic elections to
    become institutionalized in Armenia. It is the primary step that
    can demonstrate the will of the Armenian authorities to reconstruct
    the real outcome of the election and to dispel the public skepticism
    regarding the results of the vote.

    Armenian Helsinki Committee

    Protection of Rights Without Borders NGO

    Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center

    Journalists' Club "Asparez" NGO

    Helsinki Citizens' Assembly - Vanadzor Office

    Open Society Foundations - Armenia

    Menk Plus NGO

    Arena of Education NGO

    Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression

    Collaboration for Democracy Center

    Journalists for the Future




    From: A. Papazian
Working...
X