Friday, 23 March 2012
Armenian Authorities Prepared To Hold Free And Transparent Elections
As Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated during a conference entitled “Toward free and transparent elections,” the Armenian authorities are determined to hold the most transparent and free elections in the newly independent country’s history.
“Free and transparent elections represent a key political objective for our State. They have never been so important to our society as ahead of this election for a number of serious reasons. I can see the following prerequisites for optimism. First, the authorities have the political will to hold a free election and, secondly, today the Armenian society is more than ever prepared to hold free and fair elections,” the Prime Minister said.
Citing the representatives of oppositional parties, Tigran Sargsyan said an emerging civil society is formed in our country that is expected to be strict and exacting during the elections.
“This is our second most important guarantee that we will hold free and transparent elections. The third factor is that thanks to technical assistance received from abroad, we have significantly improved the legislation of the Republic of Armenia over the past few years, including the Electoral Code, which now takes into account those shortcomings and irregularities stated at previous elections,” the Premier pointed out.
New expertise and skills were said to have been mastered by law enforcement agencies to inspire confidence to society that no violation will be tolerated and that the offenders shall be identified and prosecuted.
According to Tigran Sargsyan, the global advance in information technologies provide extra guarantees and possibilities for the public to monitor the elections.
“Quite important is that every Armenian citizen can take advantage of this opportunity. I am also confident that the present conference will be a long way toward holding free and transparent elections by raising the public’s awareness of the electoral code and the voter’s rights,” the Prime Minister noted.
The opening ceremony was attended by Prosecutor-General of the Republic of Armenia Aghvan Hovsepian, Chairman of Central Election Commission Tigran Mukuchyan, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern, as well as representatives of public organizations.
The forum is hosted by the Office of Prosecutor-General with the assistance of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia.
