YEREVAN, MARCH 19, ARMENPRESS. Eduard Sharmazanov, Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, head of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly’s observer mission, describes the Russian presidential election as legitimate and democratic which were held on March 18. Sharmazanov told ARMENPRESS that the election fully complied with Russia’s legislation.

“On March 18 during the whole day we were following the process of the election in St. Petersburg. I was chairing the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly’s observer mission which included MPs from Armenia, as well as from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. We took part in the opening of polling stations at 08:00, then toured different stations. Before the election we met with the members of the election commissions and the representatives of opposition candidates. I can state that the election fully complied with the Russian legislation and it was legitimate and democratic. This is not only our assessment, but also that of our European partners who also observed the election process. We also didn’t hear any serious complaint from the members of the commission”, Sharmazanov said.

He said he held two press conferences on March 18 during which he stated that for Armenia it’s very important on which path its strategic ally Russia will move on. “I have stated that we are interested to have a powerful strategic ally which records development at all directions taking into account the high-level Armenian-Russian bilateral relations in all spheres. I have noted that we are interested in the Russian election to be held at a high level, in accordance with democratic rules which we witnessed yesterday”, the Vice Speaker stated.

Eduard Sharmazanov said compared to the recent parliamentary elections in Russia the process of which he also observed, the activeness of citizens was higher during the presidential election. “If overall 30-35% voter turnout was registered in the parliamentary elections in St. Petersburg, this time the voter turnout was more than 60%. There were queues near the polling stations as there was a great activeness of voters, the citizens really went to vote as a result of which Vladimir Putin received a record number of votes”, Sharmazanov said.

According to preliminary calculations Vladimir Putin received 76.67% of votes in the Russian presidential election. 54.4 million people voted for him.

English –translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan