Andrey Sorokin, the head of the OSCE office in Armenia, said during a meeting with journalists today that the parliamentary election that had taken place in Armenia in May was more democratic than all the previous elections. www.aravot.am inquired of Mr. Sorokin what impact the violations recorded by the Armenian observers – oxidizing stamps and election bribes – had had on the democratic election.
“Let me think, it is an interesting question, let me think how one can answer it more easily,” Mr. Sorokin replied.
After keeping silent for a few seconds, William Hanlon, the deputy head of the OSCE office in Yerevan, added to what his colleague had said, “There is serious progress in terms of democratic experience and implementation. The Election Code, which has proved to be very efficient, was devised and adopted. Certainly, there have been problems. In my opinion, technically it was a good election. The problems with ink have been accepted and the possibilities of their solution have been discussed.”
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We asked Mr. Sorokin to clarify the answer to our question regarding election bribes during the election, “We first of all cooperate with the Attorney General’s Office. Their statement clearly reads that if a voter reports on offering an election bribe, the reporter is not held accountable, a respective investigation will be launched. I want to say that we work with different institutions here.”
In response to our question what the biggest obstacle in the way of holding the upcoming presidential election democratically was, in his opinion, Mr. Sorokin said, “The President of Armenia clearly stated talking about the presidential election that it would be held in line with the observations of the OSCE/ODIHR. We have gotten guarantees from the highest-ranking official.”
Arpine SIMONYAN
