The European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) in a statement condemned the decision of Armenia's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) to deny ENEMO an official invitation to observe the upcoming parliamentary elections.

ENEMO says it received a letter from the CEC in response to a request of invitation to conduct an international election observation mission for the April 2 elections.

"The letter states a possible 'congestion' at the polling stations due to high interest from various organizations to deploy observers during the elections. The CEC also explains that the international organizations such as OSCE/ODIHR, OSCE PA, PACE, European Parliament and CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly are invited to observe and alleges that “there is no need to invite an additional observation missions (sic),” ENEMO said.

"ENEMO believes that restricting international observation does not serve to enhance public confidence in the electoral process in Armenia and undermines transparency of the upcoming elections."

Also, the organization called on the Armenian authorities to ensure that the interest from domestic and international observer organizations to deploy election observation missions are welcome in future.