"REGISTERED VIOLATIONS WERE NOT OF MASS NATURE AND COULD NOT HAVE CONSIDERABLE INFLUENCE ON THE RESULTS OF ELECTIONS", "IT’S YOUR CHOICE" ORGANIZATION DECLARED
Mediamax News Agency, Armenia –
May 14 2007
Yerevan, May 14. /Mediamax/. The parliamentary elections of May 12 in
Armenia became "a step forward, as compared to the elections of 2003",
the Chairman of "It’s Your Choice" NGO Harutiun Hambardzumian stated
in Yerevan today.
Mediamax reports that over 4 thousand local observers of "It’s Your
Choice" NGO realized monitoring of the pre-election campaign and
the voting process. The project was funded by the U.S Agency for
International Development (USAID).
"On the day of voting, the election process and the vote-count in
the polling stations proceeded in a relatively peaceful and steady
atmosphere, however, there were violations and neglects registered
outside the polling stations", the preliminary statement of the
organization notes.
The point, in particular, is the bribes of electors, agitation on the
day of elections from the part of pro-authority parties, discrimination
of observers’ rights, cases of mass conveyance of the electors to
the polling stations. The statement also notes cases of ballot-box
stuffing in several polling stations in Yerevan and regions of Armenia.
Harutiun Hambardzumian stated that the registered cases are hard to
prove from the juridical point of view; however, they cast a shadow
on the positive shifts obtained.
He also noted that "the registered violations were not of mass
nature and could not have considerable influence on the result of
elections".