On January 12, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) published the OSCE/ODIHR Needs Assessment Mission Report. In this document, the OSCE/ODIHR recommends the RA authorities to send an observation mission to Armenia to follow the upcoming parliamentary elections in April which requires the invitation by RA authorities. In addition to the core team of experts, OSCE/ODIHR recommends sending 24 long-term observers to Armenia (from OSCE member states) to observe the elections across the country as well as 250 short-term observers to observe the day of elections.
Aravot.am asked Tigran Mukuchyan, Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), whether the RA authorities have any objections if not then when they will send the invitation for the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission. Mr. Mukuchyan informed that the invitation will be ready in a few days and also explained, “CEC is not an invitation sending entity. When the invitation is ready within the defined period, we will make it public.” As observed by OSCE/ODIHR, the RA new electoral system is complicated, and the election process quite deviates from the pure proportional system. Mr. Mukuchyan responded in short, “These are provisions enshrined by the Law. Our function is to fulfill them unreservedly.”
When we wanted to make clarifications on what European partners mean by saying a deviation from proportional election system, whether he agrees with these observations and whether additional adjustments on this issue are possible, the CEC Chairman replied, “According to them, the deviation refers to the proportional electoral system which combines the implementation of electoral system by national and constituent electoral lists.” Back to the part of the question regarding making adjustments, Mr. Mukuchyan noted, “First of all, there is no such a task set forth, secondly, the proportional electoral system has numerous varieties, one of which is stipulated in our Electoral Code.”
