Expert says OSCE/ODIHR assessment of Armenian elections true

PanARMENIAN.Net - There is public misconception that OSCE/ODIHR gives imprecise assessments of the recent parliamentary elections in Armenia, expert of the Armenian National research center said.

As Edgar Vardanyan told a press conference, the institution’s assessments totally consider the monitoring outcomes and prove both the positive and negative points of the election process.

The expert further cited the assessment of Latvia’s parliamentary elections of 2011 as “fair, free and democratic” as a bright example of it.

On May 7, heads of the European Parliament mission, PACE, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, OSCE/ODIHR issued a statement, according to which drawbacks recorded during the parliamentary elections in Armenia on May 6 won’t affect the polling results.

The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) took a decisive victory at the parliamentary elections on May 6 gaining 44,02% of votes.

The coalition Prosperous Armenia party comes second with 30,12% of votes and the opposition ANC is placed third with 7,08%. The opposition parties Heritage (5,76%) and ARF Dashnaktsutyun (5,67%), as well as the third coalition Orinats Yerkir party (5,51%) also joined the new parliament.

RPA gained absolute majority of 69 seats in the 131-member National Assembly, 40 by proportional and 29 by majority system of voting.

Prosperous Armenia got 37 seats (28 by proportional and 9 by majority systems) and ANC was left with 7.

Dashnaktsutyun and Orinats Yerkir got 6 seats each (5 by proportional and 1 by majority systems), while Heritage got 5.