OSCE Discusses Post-Election Situation

RFE/RL reports that the Chairperson of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has discussed post-election developments with the outgoing president and his successor. Regardless of how Ter-Petrossian’s demonstrations are shaping up, it would appear that the international community still support the incumbent authorities.

Outgoing President Robert Kocharian’s office said Finland’s Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva praised the Armenian authorities for showing “restraint” in dealing with opposition protesters challenging the official election results. “He expressed confidence that Armenia’s authorities will continue to display prudence and will act with methods accepted in civilized countries,” it said in a statement.

A separate statement by the Armenian government said Kanerva “warmly congratulated” Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian on his victory in the February 19 election which was formally declared by the Central Election Commission on Sunday. Sarkisian was quoted as praising the work of some 400 representatives of the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the European Union who monitored the vote.

The observers concluded in their preliminary report that the vote was administered “mostly in accordance” with democratic standards.

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Kanerva added that the observers’ final report, due to be issued by mid-April, therefore “will not be quite clean.” “But even if it’s not clean, it doesn’t mean that everything has failed,” he said. “So this is a positive steps towards functioning democracy. It will take time, it will take some elections.”