PACE Took Notice of Report on Constitutional Referendum in Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - January 23 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe took notice of the annual report of the PACE Bureau that includes record on the constitutional referendum held in Armenia November 27, 2005. British parliamentarian Nigel Evans, who observed the referendum, noted that though Armenia is not the last from the democracy viewpoint it still

has much to do."



In his speech deputy head of the Armenian delegation to PACE, member of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Supreme Body Armen Rustamian accused opposition of withdrawal of its representatives from the election committees and non-participation in the referendum, what resulted in incomplete control over the voting. "Armenia is following the path of establishing democracy and will have to hold democratic elections in 2007 and 2008. The republic is at a certain stage of political development when fair and free elections have no alternative," Rustamian said. New member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE, leader of Justice opposition bloc Stepan Demirchian also registered for a speech but his turn did not come and Demirchian handed the text of his speech to the PACE Secretariat, RFE/RL reported.