February 19, 2003 Armenia will hold elections as a Council of Europe member for the first time and it binds us to many things. Armenian defense minister, chief of the electoral headquarters of the acting president of the country Serge Sargsian told "Golos Armenii" newspaper about it. In his words, today the Armenian authorities are interested in holding free and fair elections as never before and they rule out any coercion in the course of the ballot. Commenting on the statements made by opposition representatives on inevitability of gerrymander, Serge Sargsian noted that the coming elections will be marked by a large number of international observers.