CoE: Armenian Parties Lacked Engagement At Local Governance Election

COE: ARMENIAN PARTIES LACKED ENGAGEMENT AT LOCAL GOVERNANCE ELECTIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 24, 2012 – 18:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The mission of the Congress of Local and Regional
Authorities of the Council of Europe, which monitored elections into
local self-governance bodies, issued a statement calling for a strong
commitment of political parties to local democracy in Armenia.

“Our satisfaction with the fact that these elections take place
according to international standards is mitigated by the lack of
engagement of political parties with local governance,” said Henry
Feral (France, EPP), head of the delegation for the observation of
local government elections in Armenia.

Following the observation of part of local elections conducted on
September 9 and 23, 2012 the Congress noted with satisfaction that
the voting took place in a serious and calm atmosphere and the level
of participation was satisfactory. No observer detected any obvious
fraud though the issue of possible vote buying was raised by many
stakeholders.

However, the delegation noted the lack of commitment of political
parties with regret. While recognizing that this is due to various
reasons, such as lack of financial resources, staff and candidates,
it believes that political parties do not pay enough attention to
democracy and governance at the local level.

Moreover, while acknowledging the existence of initiative from citizens
who have participated in the electoral process, the Congress calls
for greater involvement of all of civil society.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress