British Embassy neutral on presidential race
The British Embassy in Yerevan rejects the allegations in a report in the "Hayots Ashkhar" daily on 13 February titled "British Embassy in the role of a courier?", that an Embassy driver disseminated "propaganda material" for the election campaign of an Armenian presidential candidate.
"There is no basis for this accusation. The UK Government strongly supports the efforts of the Armenian Government to conduct democratic and transparent elections in Armenia, and maintains strict impartiality in the contest," reads a statement issued by the Embassy.
"The British Embassy in Yerevan has supported a public awareness project against election bribery. This project is publishing several thousand leaflets encouraging Armenian voters to refuse election bribery, in support of the efforts of the Armenian authorities to promote a free and fair contest on February 19. The leaflets have been distributed to NGOs and to all presidential candidates' campaign offices that have expressed an interest in distributing them. The Embassy driver was assisting the Embassy in delivering these leaflets. The leaflets have been delivered to "It's Your Choice", "Center for Community Dialogue and Initiatives", "Hakastver", and "Armedia" NGOs, as well as the election campaign headquarters of the presidential candidates Aram Harutyunyan, Arman Melikyan, Artashes Geghamyan, Arthur Baghdassaryan, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Serzh Sargsyan, Tigran Karapetyan, Vahan Hovhannisyan and Vazgen Manukyan," it says.
"There is no basis for this accusation. The UK Government strongly supports the efforts of the Armenian Government to conduct democratic and transparent elections in Armenia, and maintains strict impartiality in the contest," reads a statement issued by the Embassy.
"The British Embassy in Yerevan has supported a public awareness project against election bribery. This project is publishing several thousand leaflets encouraging Armenian voters to refuse election bribery, in support of the efforts of the Armenian authorities to promote a free and fair contest on February 19. The leaflets have been distributed to NGOs and to all presidential candidates' campaign offices that have expressed an interest in distributing them. The Embassy driver was assisting the Embassy in delivering these leaflets. The leaflets have been delivered to "It's Your Choice", "Center for Community Dialogue and Initiatives", "Hakastver", and "Armedia" NGOs, as well as the election campaign headquarters of the presidential candidates Aram Harutyunyan, Arman Melikyan, Artashes Geghamyan, Arthur Baghdassaryan, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Serzh Sargsyan, Tigran Karapetyan, Vahan Hovhannisyan and Vazgen Manukyan," it says.
