There are separate clauses referring to the organizing and conduct of the upcoming Armenian parliamentary and 2008 presidential elections in the resolution on the assignments and responsibilities of Armenia approved on January 23 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
First, the Assembly sadly reports that none of the elections conducted in Armenia after Armenia’s membership in the European Council in 2001 has been completely free and fair. Then, the Assembly considers it “extremely” important to have the upcoming elections finally correspond to the free and fair standards of Europe as proof that Armenia is progressing in democracy and European integration. The Parliamentary Assembly is satisfied with the “improvement” of the legal field of the elections thanks to the Electoral code amendments approved in May 2005.
“The Assembly hopes that the Electoral code amendments elaborated with the Venetian Convention and approved in December 2006 will create good grounds for good organization of the upcoming elections,” as stated in the resolution. The resolution also emphasizes that besides the Electoral code amendments, democratic elections may be guaranteed only if the code is “applied diligently and there is political will in the superior bodies.” “It must be clearly announced that electoral fraud during the next elections will be intolerable.”
PACE also places high emphasis on the correctness of voters’ lists for the conduct of free and fair elections. “Taking into consideration the fact that correctness of voters’ lists is the unreserved precondition for conducting democratic elections, the Assembly calls on Armenian authorities to do everything possible to update voters’ lists before the upcoming elections.”
PACE has especially outlined the activities of the electronic and printed media as the token of the upcoming free and fair elections
“Due to the fact that there are only a couple of months remaining before the Armenian parliamentary elections, the variety of opinions of electronic media and the current reforms taking place are of importance to the Assembly because the equal access to electronic media for all political parties is absolutely necessary for the conduct of free and fair elections,” as stated in the resolution. In the clauses regarding mass media, it is also stated that true, the constitutional amendments “paved the path towards making the mass media regulatory corps more independent, however the government’s legislative reforms, which have received strong criticism, were not discussed with neither the representatives of mass media nor the European Council. The main points of the criticism referred to the staff of the Armenian National Television/Radio Board and the appointment of members. The Assembly calls on the Armenian authorities to consult beforehand with the European Council experts and consider their proposals before making amendments to the law on “Television and Radio”.
Besides this, the Assembly also calls on the Armenian government to define an open and transparent order for the appointment of Public Television and Radio board members, as proposed by the Venetian Convention.
“Besides amending the legislation, the Government of Armenia must also take steps towards maintaining freedom and variety of opinions of Public Television and Radio. As for print media which, according to PACE, are known for their freedom and variety of opinions, they play a small role in providing the public with information due to small amounts of copies. “The Assembly is pleased to report that there haven’t been any cases brought up against journalists for slander for the past couple of years. According to the 2004 Armenian Criminal code reforms, there is an imprisonment penalty only foreseen for those who commit the same violation. The Assembly welcomes this progress and calls on the Government of Armenia to not penalize slander completely, as well as consider the 318th article of the Criminal code, according to which “offense of the state official” is penalized, as phased out,” as stated in the resolution. There is also a reference to the freedom to organize public meetings during the elections. For example, the Assembly finds that after the approval of the law on “Conduct of meetings, gatherings, marches and demonstrations” on October 4, 2005, there has been a “change for the better” in freedom of meetings. Taking into consideration the “change for the better”, PACE is calling on the Armenian authorities to maintain the application of the laws and have the local government bodies apply the law based on the 11th article of the European Convention of Human Rights. “We can no longer tolerate capricious arrest and the crossing of limits of the police forces; the guilty must be punished.”