From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Thu May 08 2003 - 09:13:47 EDT
Armenian survey shows that only 13 per cent believe in fair elections
Text of report by Armenian news agency Noyan Tapan
Yerevan, 7 May: Only 13 per cent of respondents in an opinion poll
conducted by the peace and democracy centre of the Armenian association
of women educated in universities have said that the holding of free and
independent elections in Armenia possible. An employee of the philosophy
and law institute of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Vladimir
Osipov, on 7 May told a round table discussion on the topic "Democratic
elections: has Armenia an alternative?" that only 17 per cent of
respondents regard the latest Armenian presidential elections as free
and fair; 40 per cent regard them as free but not fair, 47 per cent
regard them as not transparent and 40 per cent believe that the proxies
were able to effectively supervise the vote count. Osipov also said that
only 44 per cent of respondents were satisfied with the outcome of
elections.
An employee of the philosophy and law institute of the Armenian National
Academy of Sciences, Irina Arakelyan, said that the Armenian people are
showing more interest in the affairs of the state: if 76.4 per cent of
respondents expressed interest in the political situation in the country
during the presidential elections, 93 per cent of respondents expressed
interest in the upcoming parliamentary elections. The number of people
taking part directly in the election processes has also increased: from
16 per cent to 23 per cent.
Source: Noyan Tapan news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 1504 gmt 7 May 03
BBC Mon TCU 080503 gc/fa
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