Tuesday, 4 December 2007
RA Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan received US Charge d'Affaires to Armenia Joseph Pennington. The parties have discussed the implementation of the election support program in Armenia by the government of the United States to ensure that the upcoming presidential elections are held in accordance with the international standards. The US Charge d'Affaires assured that the program will cover different areas and is similar to the one realized during the parliamentary elections, the different being that an exit poll is due to be carried out by the International Republican Institute (IRI) with the results to be made available to political forces subject to discretionary publication.
Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan welcomed the proposal and said that it was the right way for identifying the orientation of the voters after the publication of election results so as to avoid unnecessary speculations.
"Even if the mentioned organization did not come up with such an initiative, we would invite a specialized entity to apply this well-known methodology on the day of elections and to make its outcome available to the public-at-large,"-the head of RA government has said.
The parties have also touched upon the cooperation towards the enhancement of efficiency in the fight against corruption and mass media activities.
