PRESS RELEASE                                                      
May 14, 2007

Parliamentary Elections in Armenia

On May 12, 2007, elections for the National Assembly were held in the Republic of Armenia. This was the fourth parliamentary election since Armenia’s independence, and the first since the amendments to the Constitution were passed in 2005. Preliminary results published by the Central Electoral Commission indicate that the turnout was 59.4% and that five parties cleared the 5% threshold and will be represented in the National Assembly.

As President Robert Kocharian noted in his May 14 statement, the parliament elections were conducted in a free, fair, and transparent manner, which was attested by the Central Electoral Commission, and domestic and foreign observers. The President of the Republic of Armenia further noted that all shortcomings and reports of violations will be reviewed and properly resolved.

The International Election Observation Mission, which unified observers from the OSCE, EU, European Parliament, and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe under its umbrella, noted that “the elections demonstrated improvement from previous ones and were largely in accordance with international commitments.” The head of the European Parliament’s observer mission noted that “with their participation in these elections, Armenian citizens have made a further step toward European democratic values as foreseen and promoted by the EU Neighborhood Policy.” In its official statement, the EU Presidency noted its satisfaction with the Armenian parliamentary elections which were “on the whole, conducted fairly, freely and largely in accordance with the international commitments which Armenia had entered into.” The EU Presidency further noted that the European Union is very much in favour of intensifying cooperation with Armenia, and the elections would breathe new life into the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Action Plan agreed under it.