Government put a task before itself to hold elections in accordance with highest international standards, says acting PM
The government has put a task before itself to hold the most qualified and best elections in the history of the third Republic of Armenia, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the beginning of today’s Cabinet session, adding that the elections must be held in accordance with the highest international standards.
“I want to state the following: we should rule out the use of administrative resource during these elections, in particular, a number of traditions of the past when during these days the public education sector was involved in these political and campaign processes, this phenomenon should be totally ruled out. And also the phenomenon, when the administrative levers are being used in the process for guiding the voters, should be ruled out”, he said, adding that the voter must follow the campaign, become a participant of the political content and decide whom he/she want to vote in favor of.
Pashinyan said the election results should be formed based on the voting. “We should rule out the cases when the ballots are placed in the wrong box for several times. We need to address a very clear and strong message that anyone who will make such an attempt will be punished by law. The next phenomenon relates to the distribution of bribes directly or indirectly. I hope the Police and the Special Investigation Service are ready not only to respond to such cases, but also to prevent them. We need to understand that such phenomenon cannot have any place in our reality. During the whole period of the election campaign we will ensure a really free competition between the political forces, there should not be restrictions on access to halls, all political forces must really have equal opportunities to talk to and hold dialogue with the voters”, the acting PM said.
Commenting on the issue of electoral lists, Nikol Pashinyan said the Police first of all bear that responsibility. “We know from the previous elections a phenomenon when a migration of voters is taking place from one polling station to another. I hope, Mr. Osipyan, you will get the information and will take respective actions. We really should hold elections at a high level, and I have no doubt on this”, he said.
