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The Armenian government is studying the report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) observation mission on the conduct and results of the June 7 parliamentary election, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.
“I share all the concerns, as well as the recommendations, and naturally, we will examine them in the greatest depth, because we are currently analyzing the recommendations,” Pashinyan said at a press briefing when asked by Armenpress.
“PACE is one of the institutions whose recommendations, in my opinion, can never do harm if implemented. But in order for us to address this issue at the expert level, it should also be discussed at the expert level,” the Prime Minister said.
Pashinyan emphasized that his government had also identified problems concerning the conduct of the elections.
“We recorded immediately after the elections that very serious changes need to be made to our electoral system so that we can somehow prevent the situations that have arisen, or reduce their impact to zero,” Pashinyan said.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s observation mission stated in its report that the parliamentary election held in Armenia on June 7 gave voters a genuine choice between political alternatives and was, overall, well organized. The report noted that the conduct of election day was assessed positively at the vast majority of polling stations observed.
At the same time, the report noted that direct pressure from abroad was observed during the campaign in the form of growing trade restrictions and security threats. According to the report, their purpose was to exert undue influence on voters in favor of opposition forces.
The report also noted that statements by Western and European officials supporting the ruling force were perceived as external interference, but without the scale of coercion characteristic of Russian actions.