Yesterday the first session of the PACE spring session was launched. During the session the delegates started the discussion of the monitoring mission report on the presidential election of RA. Specifically, Hungarian parliamentarian Zlolt Nemeth thinks the Council of Europe should urge Armenia’s authorities to launch an independent investigation. “If they don’t do that, then the Council of Europe should do it,” the latter said. He suggested changing the order of observation missions as European observers frequently “legitimize non-democratic elections.” Swedish parliamentarian Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin was in Armenia to monitor the election. She says she has observed elections in many countries but nowhere had she seen such large-scale election fraud. She told PACE delegates how she had witnessed a case of election rigging at a precinct. She says the votes cast for Ter-Petrosyan were tabulated in favor of Serzh Sargsyan. “By the way, the chairperson of the precinct was well aware of it. Everything was done to help Serzh Sargsyan win the election.” Lundin also said that on the next day of election she attended the press conference of the monitoring mission, during which they said that the elections were mostly in line with Council of Europe standards. “You think that by saying that you are helping the Armenian people, don’t you? I think not,” said the Swedish MP. Let us mention that on Thursday the PACE is going to discuss the state of democratic institutes in Armenia.
