April 13, 2007 - 20:12 AMT
No state can hold perfect election, Platvoet says
"The observers are not obliged with a task to sit in the polling stations and watch the process of election. We will watch the process as a whole. The most important aspect for us is counting of votes and delivery of the ballot-papers to the Central Election Committee," Leo Platvoet, head of the PACE observation mission, told a news conference in Yerevan today. The investigation of facts of bribing voters is not the aim of the mission, he added. "The most important thing is trust of the people to the authorities and all those who are responsible for holding a fair and democratic election. No state, even a European one, can hold a perfect election. Albania, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Serbia can serve as an example. Violations are fixed even in highly developed states like UK and Germany. Nevertheless I should emphasize that specification of the rolls and complaints of the citizens are the issues to be dealt by the Armenian law enforcement," Platvoet said.