From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Fri Feb 21 2003 - 09:46:53 EST
Armenian polls "fall short of international standards" - European
observers
Text of report in English by Armenian news agency Mediamax
Yerevan, 20 February: "Voting in yesterday's presidential elections in
Armenia was generally calm and well-administered but the counting
process was flawed and the long-term election process fell short of
international standards in several key respects." This is the conclusion
of the 200-strong international election observation mission deployed by
the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
"It is encouraging that election day went reasonably well, but serious
irregularities did not enable us to make an overall positive
assessment," the head of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE), Lord Russell-Johnston, said.
"While we were pleased to see an active and vigorous campaign, we are
concerned about serious shortcomings that were evident during the run-up
to the elections," Lord Russell-Johnston said.
The head of the OSCE observation mission Peter Eicher urged the
authorities to use the time before the upcoming parliamentary vote to
address these shortcomings.
Source: Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in English 1210 gmt 20 Feb 03
BBC Mon Alert TCU 200203 bk
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