Minister: ruling authorities organized best polls in modern historyFebruary 18, 2013 - 21:57 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan has highly assessed the course of Feb 18 presidential elections. “The ruling authorities fulfilled their pledge of organizing the best elections in modern history. There were several reports on violations, with some of them immediately considered and rejected. The rest are also subjected to discussion. These elections were a turning point in the development of democracy in Armenia,” Minister Ashotyan posted on his Facebook page. 7 candidates are running for the post of Armenian president: chairman of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan, Heritage party chairman Raffi Hovannisian, leader of Freedom party, former prime minister Hrant Bagratyan, former foreign minister of Nagorno Karabakh Republic Arman Melikyan, National Self-Determination Union party head Paruyr Hayrikyan, Radio Hay director Andrias Ghukasyan and literature expert Vardan Sedrakyan. Top stories President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Partner news | Armenia, U.S. customs authorities to boost assistance with new deal The government has approved an agreement with the U.S. government on mutual assistance between the customs authorities. EU calls on Azerbaijan to release all political prisoners The European Union calls on Azerbaijan to release all those imprisoned for exercising their fundamental rights. Armenia-Azerbaijan: Turkey wants deal after “positive developments” Turkey hopes “positive developments” in negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan will lead to an agreement. Police try to impede Armenian Church head’s access to war memorial Police tried to stop the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II, from visiting a war memorial. |