YEREVAN, JUNE 25, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the OSCE Neil Bush congratulated the Armenian people on the successful conduct of their early parliamentary elections and thanked ODIHR's election observation mission for these elections and for their reports.

“We were pleased to read in the statement that the elections were competitive and generally well managed within the short time-frame. Voters were provided with a broad range of options, and fundamental rights and freedoms were generally respected, with contestants being able to campaign freely”, the Ambassador said.

Neil Bush shared concerns that the campaign period was characterized by intense polarization and marred by increasingly inflammatory rhetoric, and that women were side-lined throughout the campaign.

“We look forward to the Election Observation Mission’s final report which will contain valuable recommendations on how to make further improvements to the electoral process and address issues identified. These objective observations and recommendations from ODIHR are invaluable tools and we encourage the Government of Armenia to make full use of them, including by implementing these and previous OSCE/ODIHR recommendations.

The UK will continue our close partnership with Armenia, including through cooperation on democratic and economic reforms”, the Ambassador added.