Wednesday, March 22 2017 15:27

ArmInfo.The European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) condemns the refusal of the Armenian authorities to invite its international citizen observers to monitor the parliamentary election scheduled on 2 April 2017 .

According to the official statement shared to ArmInfo,  Armenian  authorities stated that the reason for the refusal is the allegedly  high number of already accredited observers and, therefore, the lack  of need for additional international observers. Both the refusal and  its justification contradict the obligation of Armenia as a member of  the OSCE to invite international observers from other OSCE countries,  in particular the agreements set up by the 1990 CSCE/OSCE Copenhagen  Document, later reaffirmed in the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Document and in  the Decision No. 19/06 (Paragraph 10) of the OSCE Ministerial Council  Document "Strengthening the Effectiveness of the OSCE" signed in  Brussels in 2006. This gives cause for serious concerns that the  Armenian government might not consider the presence of international  observers as an important contribution to enhancing the electoral  process.

The EPDE calls upon the international community, particularly the  OSCE-Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights  (OSCE-ODIHR), the EU-Commission and the Council of Europe to consider  this arbitral denial of accreditation for international citizen  election observers during relevant meetings and negotiations with the  Armenian authorities in the future.

To note, 76 representatives of Russia, Belarus, Turkmenistan,   Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan confirmed their participation in the CIS   observation mission. In total, the mission will include 150-180   observers, 20of which, are long-term observers. They will arrive in   Armenia at the invitation of the Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. In   addition, a long-term observation mission of the OSCE/ODIHR began its   activities on 23 February. 14 experts of the group and 28 observers   arrived in Armenia. To accomplish the mission on election day, 250   more observers will join them. Also, 3,500 observers from the   "Citizen-Observer" initiative are expected to attend?