After the parliamentary election that took place on March 6, the news was spread that the international observers had come to polling stations late, sometimes not sober. Therefore, www.aravot.am inquired from Harutyun Hambardzumyan, the head of The Choice Is Yours
NGO, what their observations about the international monitoring missions were. Mr. Hambardzumyan responded, “I think that the OSCE observers’ statement was a bit stricter than it had been concerning the previous election. It’s a pity, because the previous election was a disgrace and the OSCE observers assessed it positively, whereas in regard to this one, which was a more or less positive election, the OSCE observers made a negative assessment that they had noticed violations etc.”
We inquired whether there was a hidden agenda or whether there was a different explanation of that. H. Hambardzumyan noted, “I don’t think that they have a secret agenda. It is just because it was stated many times about their careless attitude during the previous election that they came and observed that everything was perfect and then, when local organizations registered violations, they labeled them as they wanted. It turns out that they have understood this problem a bit late and unfortunately, they make more chilly statements during a more or less positive election.”
We inquired whether their observers had had problems, while monitoring the election. Mr. Hambardzumyan responded, “In a few polling stations they refused to give an extract from the statement to an observer, there were cases, when they didn’t allow an observer to enter the polling station in the morning, explaining that his identity and license should have been pinned on his chest. And we had planned that it would be put in the pocket, therefore, they allowed entering the polling station after a long struggle. So, meaningless delays caused by technical problems. In one polling station, they convinced an observer that the counting process would last long, till 4-5 p.m., so, they urged him not to wait.” Mr. Hambardzumyan promised during a conversation with www.aravot.am to comment on the results of the election in mid-June, when the election process would be over.
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
