July 12, 2017 - 17:21 AMT
Republicans pleased with ODIHR assessment of Armenian elections

Spokesman for the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Eduard Sahrmazanov has given a positive assessment of the final report on the parliamentary elections, released recently by OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The OSCE/ODIHR final report on Armenia’s April 2 parliamentary elections noted that fundamental freedoms were generally respected and candidates were able to campaign without restrictions.

“It is important that a professional agency like the OSCE/ODIHR accepts that elections were well-administered, while fundamental freedoms were generally respected,” Sharmazanov said, according to RFE/RL Armenian Service.

“This means that elections were legal and legitimate.”

Commenting on the shortcomings that the European observers mentioned, the spokesman said Armenia has never rejected reports on violations of law, registered during the vote.

“On the contrary, we’ve vowed to strictly punish those who will try to cast a shadow on the legitimacy of elections,” he said.