Armenian Foreign Ministry Responds

Mediamax reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to the latest interim report on the 19 February presidential election published by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The statement seeks to address certain criticisms by international observers of the conduct of the vote and highlight inadequacies in the report.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs that OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission has released its third interim report on Armenia’s Presidential elections. The report reaffirms the ODIHR Election Observation Mission’s assessment that the February 19 Presidential election “was administered mostly in line with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards.”

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At the same time, Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that in spite of the government’s repeated inquiries, the government has not been provided with the identifying numbers of 13 of the 17 precincts where, according to the report, the counting process was “bad” or “very bad”, and therefore, without such information, the government is unable to conduct the appropriate investigation.

The interim report also includes interpretative statements based on unverified data. Thus, the report expresses doubt about the high turnout in precincts 37/18, 37/29, 37/38 and 37/39. Prior to the issuance of the report, the authorities had explained that there are military posts in those precincts which naturally raises the numbers of those voting, and thus the percentage of voter turnout in those precincts can be not just near 100, but also in excess of 100 percent.