November 23, 2005 - 13:25 AMT
Over 10 000 Observers to Follow Constitutional Referendum in Armenia
As PanARMENIAN.Net reporter came to know from the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), over 10 000 observers representing 11 Armenian political parties, 24 NGOs and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will follow the constitutional referendum in Armenia on November 27. As for the fact that Armenia did not send an invitation to the OSCE, the CEC press office said the organization representatives will not watch the constitutional referendum, since the OSCE mandate includes observation of parliamentary and presidential election but not of referenda.
It should be reminded that Chief of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Vladimir Pryakhin stated earlier that the decision on whether to invite OSCE observers to monitor the referendum on constitutional amendments in Armenia is the country's sovereign affair. In his words, according to paragraph 8 of Copenhagen Document, the authorities are not obliged to invite OSCE observers.