Doc. 9836

23 June 2003

Ad hoc Committee for the observations of the parliamentary elections in Armenia (25 May 2003)

Report

Bureau

Rapporteur: Mr Bernard Schreiner, France, EDG

Introduction

1.       At the invitation of the President of the Armenian National Assembly, the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly decided on 31 March 2003 to observe the parliamentary elections in Armenia and to constitute both a pre-election mission and an ad hoc committee to observe the elections, which were held on 25 May 2003.

2.       Given the peculiar situation where the Presidential and Parliamentary elections are so close together, the Parliamentary pre-election mission (for composition see Appendix 1) also served as a post-electoral mission for the Presidential elections of earlier in the year.

3.       The mission was received by Armenian top officials, the Head of State, President Kocharian and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Oskanian. The programme of the visit is reproduced in Appendix 2.

4.       The mission was pleased to learn that Armenian authorities concerned took the criticism, conclusions and recommendations from PACE and OSCE ODIHR reports very seriously and promised to take corrective measures , not least to avoid the recurrence of similar mistakes and irregularities during the 25 May elections.

5.       The Armenian authorities also informed members that a special commission had been set up in Yerevan to look into the findings of international observers. While the commission’s conclusions could in the opinion of the mission, have been a lot more sweeping in terms of their operational value, the very fact that it had been set up was a welcome development. The press release of the pre-election mission appears in Appendix 3.

6.       At the end of the mission its members, at the invitation of the Armenian State Television Channel, participated in a live talk show where they had an opportunity to express PACE views to the broad Armenian public directly.

7.       The ad hoc committee met from Thursday 22 to Monday 26 May 2003, as part of an International Election Observation mission (IEOM) that also included the election observation mission of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (ODIHR/OSCE) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE/PA).

8.       Following proposals from the Assembly's political groups the ad hoc committee was composed as follows:

Socialist Group (SOC)

Mrs Anna ČURDOVÁ       Czech Republic

Mrs Josette DURRIEU       France

Mrs Jane GRIFFITHS       United Kingdom

Mr Andreas GROSS       Switzerland

Mr Jerzy JASKIERNA       Poland

Group of the European People’s Party (EPP)

Mr Renzo GUBERT       Italy

Mr François ROCHEBLOINE       France

Mr Jerzy SMORAWIŃSKI       Poland

Mr Latchezar TOSHEV       Bulgaria

Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group (LDR)

Lord RUSSELL-JOHNSTON       United Kingdom

Mrs Lili NABHOLZ-HAIDEGGER        Switzerland

European Democratic Group (EDG)

Mr André KVAKKESTAD       Norway

Mr Sergey POPOV       Russia

Mr Bernard SCHREINER       France

Group of the Unified European Left (UEL)

Mr Jean-Claude LEFORT        France

Mr Jiří MAŠTÁLKA       Czech Republic

Secretariat

Mrs Agnès NOLLINGER       Deputy Head of Unit

Mr Bas KLEIN       Administrator

Ms Farida JAMAL       Co-ordinator

Mr Angus MACDONALD       Press Officer

10.       Ahead of the actual observation of elections, the committee members held a series of meetings with candidates and political party representatives, and with the newly elected President, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the President of the Central Electoral Committee, the Council of Europe Secretary General's Special Representative in Armenia, the Head and members of the ODIHR/OSCE election observation mission and media as well as civil society representatives. The programme of meetings appears in Appendix 4.

11.       On the day of the elections, the ad hoc committee split into ten teams to observe the start of voting, its conduct and the counting of votes. The members visited more than a hundred polling stations in and around Yerevan, Vanadzor, Gyumri, Talin and Vedi. The press release issued after the elections appears in Appendix 5.

12.       The ad hoc committee had excellent co-operation with the ODIHR/OSCE election observation mission in Armenia and its partners from the OSCE PA.

The electoral system

13.       The parliamentary elections were an important test for the democratic process in Armenia, particularly since the recent presidential election was deemed to have fallen short of international standards.

14.       The 1999 electoral code was amended in 2002 and offered a better basis for the conduct of elections.

15.       The 2002 amendments took account of the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR. One effect was to replace the 11 regional electoral committees with 56 territorial and 1877 polling station electoral committees. Each commission has nine members, three of whom are appointed by the President and one each by the six political parties represented in parliament following the 1999 elections.

16.       Although electoral committees are required by law to be politically representative their composition is not balanced as it reflects the composition of parliament of 5 years ago. In the past years, that composition changed dramatically. Consequently, candidates and parties have expressed a lack of confidence in the electoral authorities' objectivity, impartiality and transparency since in the majority of cases an electoral committee's chair, deputy chair and secretary are Presidential appointees.

17.       Under the Constitution there are 131 members of parliament and the electoral law, as amended in 2002, provides for a mixed system in which 75 members of parliament are elected by proportional representation and 56 by a simple majority in single member constituencies with one round of voting.

18.       The Central Electoral Committee is responsible for election organisation and has considerable regulatory powers.

19.       On 20 April 2003 the Central Electoral Committee confirmed the registration of 1099 candidates on 17 party lists and 4 electoral alliances for the elections by proportional representation. One of the two parties that form the government presented 120 candidates and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation - "Dashnaktsutiun" - 101 candidates. The largest national list was the Justice Alliance with 137 candidates.

20.       Some 380 candidates were registered by the Territorial Electoral Committees (TECs) for the majoritarian contests. Subsequent withdrawals up to the deadline of 15 May, and a limited number of deregistration, left a total of 272 majoritarian candidates on election day.

21.       Non-partisan candidates outnumbered the combined total of party candidates but it was clear that some of the former had a party affiliation. Many candidates were locally known figures, often from the business community, and at times campaigning reflected local rivalries.

22.       A number of potential majoritarian candidates were denied registration by TECs or were de-registered, for failing to meet legal requirements, although these were inconsistently applied.

23.       The 56 territorial electoral committees registered 550 candidates for the simple majority elections. Certain candidates appeared simultaneously on proportional and majority lists.

24.       There are approximately 2.3 million voters according to the electoral registers compiled by the local authorities, there being no central register.

25.       A serious shortcoming in the electoral code is the absence of a requirement for the central and territorial electoral committees to publish detailed breakdowns of the results produced by the lower tier committees. The lack of such a requirement seriously reduces the transparency of the vote counting process. The ad hoc committee has strongly urged the Central Election Committee to publish the detailed results of the territorial committees and the latter to do the same for the polling station and neighbourhood committees for which they were responsible.

Electoral register

26.       As in previous elections, accuracy of voter lists remained a concern. Voter lists are locally compiled and there is no centralized civil or voter register to check for potential multiple entries across community borders.

27.       Co-operation between Armenian institutions to ensure that records of deceased are efficiently deleted was far from perfect. Persons unable to find their names on the voter lists were again able to apply to a court for permission to vote. Significant improvements have been made in this sense, since the last presidential elections.

The election campaign

28.       The election campaign was conducted in a generally calm environment and proceeded, particularly in the proportional contest, without any significant irregularities. Active campaigning took place throughout the country, featuring posters and public meetings. There were isolated instances of public resources being used to the advantage of certain parties or candidates. Interest in the election was relatively low, due, at least in part, to disillusionment at the conduct of the recent presidential election, and voter fatigue.

29.       Almost a quarter of the majoritarian constituencies had only two or even one candidate. While one-candidate “elections” deprive voters of a choice, two-candidate contests may narrow voter choice to an unacceptable degree. In certain localities, this appeared to derive from reluctance to challenge the interests of dominant community leaders. In addition to difficulties with registration, some 30% of registered majoritarian candidates withdrew. The withdrawals came from across the political spectrum. Reasons included deals between parties and candidates; allegations that some were due to bribery or intimidation were not confirmed.

30.       Pre-election tensions were high in some majoritarian constituencies, reflecting local rivalries. Allegations of coercion of voters to support particular candidates in Alaverdi (Lori region) and in Syunik were made to observers, although no formal complaints were filed. There were attacks on candidates’ campaign offices in three constituencies, Ararat, Abovyan and Sevan; in Sevan, rival candidate campaign offices were both attacked at different times. There was also an assault on a TEC member in Syunik region. The CEC issued a public statement strongly condemning all acts of election-related violence and called for tolerance.

31.       Some parties violated provisions in the Electoral Code which prohibits providing or promising goods or services free of charge to citizens during the pre-election period. Complaints received by the EOM included the distribution of “gifts” of fuel, food and computers, the asphalting of roads and exterior and interior decorating in apartment buildings. While such complaints were made formally to the electoral authorities, the CEC and TECs generally failed to take steps to investigate compliance with the law.

The media

32       In comparison with the 2003 presidential election, public television generally fulfilled its legal obligation to offer to all parties and blocs running the proportional election free air-time under equal conditions. It also provided largely unbiased coverage of the campaign in its primetime news and analytical programmes. However, in the two weeks prior to the election, coverage of the two government parties became more favourable. Public television varied its broadcasting to enable cross-party debates and discussions between leading candidates.

33.       Private broadcasters offered most of their coverage to parties supporting President Kocharyan. A private channel, ALM TV, provided preferential treatment both in quantity and quality to the People’s Party, headed by the owner of the channel who was also a candidate in both the proportional and majoritarian lists. A number of televised debates took place, which marks a positive improvement since the last presidential elections.

34.       Private print media offered a diverse range of views, but generally supported specific political parties, blocs and candidates, depending on their political slant. The 24-hour silence period before election was breached by “Hayots Askharh” through the publication of two interviews with candidates.

Gender balance

35.       Women are under-represented in both the parliament and in the leadership of political parties. Moreover, after Armenian independence, the number of women candidates on electoral lists has declined.

36.       In the parliamentary elections 4% of the candidates in the constituency elections and 15% on the national lists were women. Although the majority of parties met the obligation to include 5% of women on their lists it should be noted that they were generally placed in fairly unsatisfactory positions. Only three parties had women in the first ten places and only one had a woman at the head of its list. The majority of party leaders showed little interest in the subject and did not encourage women to run.

37.       However certain parties devoted part of their programme to problems faced by women and even organised meetings with feminist organisations. The majority of women thought that compared with the communist period, when they had substantial representation in the government and parliament, the situation had deteriorated.

Conduct of the voting

38.       Each voter had separate ballot papers for the constituency and proportional elections, other than members of the armed forces and persons residing abroad, who could only vote in the latter. The ballot papers were placed in the same ballot box.

39.       There was a special ballot paper for the referendum that was conducted on the same day.

Election day and vote counting

40.       Election day was generally calm, but was overshadowed by a fatal shooting at a polling station in Shahumian (Ararat Region) which also resulted in the injury of others. Some observers were present at the incident. Isolated incidents of violence were also reported in a number of other polling stations, including a fight in N° 0272. The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Chairman of the outgoing parliamentarian delegation of Armenia to PACE, Mr Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, withdrew as a majority candidate in TEC 45 on election day allegedly as a result of intimidation. Observers investigated one instance of vote-buying in TEC 43. The low level of public interest in the elections during the campaign seemed to have caused a significant drop in voter turnout in comparison to the recent Presidential elections.

41.       Nevertheless, in around 90% of polling stations visited by observers, voting was assessed as either positive or with minor problems. Other problems met were intimidation (3%), presence of unauthorized persons (10%) and open voting by the military in polling station N°0256.

42.       However, significant problems were observed during the counting process in over 30 % of polling stations observed. Theses included the falsification of protocols, ballot stuffing, stealing of ballots and the removal of uncounted ballot papers. At many polling stations counting procedures were poorly followed, criteria for invalidation of ballots were inconsistently applied and proxies and observers were denied a clear view of the process and in contradiction to the Electoral Code were refused signed copies of the protocols.

43.       The start of vote counting was inexplicably delayed in many polling stations.

Conclusion and recommendations

44.       The election campaign and vote showed an improvement over the last Presidential elections, unfortunately the vote count showed the same pattern of irregularities, if not on a greater scale, (ballot box stuffing, protocol falsification, intimidation of proxies and observers) as observed during the last Presidential elections. These elections therefore still fall short of internationally accepted democratic standards.

45.       The improvement of these elections over the last Presidential elections follows a pattern similar to 1999 when the parliamentary elections were considered to have demonstrated an improvement over the presidential elections in 1998. If the 2003 Parliamentary elections are compared to the 1999 Parliamentary elections progress is less marked.

46.       The capacity of Armenia to consistently organise free and democratic elections according to internationally accepted democratic standards is an inherent obligation of Armenia’s membership of the Council of Europe. In this respect it calls upon the Monitoring Committee to start a dialogue with the Armenian Authorities on the improvement of the organisation of elections. It further stresses that the lifting of the monitoring procedure of Armenia by the Parliamentary Assembly cannot be considered before Armenia has conducted both Parliamentary and Presidential elections in line with internationally accepted democratic standards.

47.       To avoid disenfranchising disabled or hospitalised and home bound voters, the ad hoc committee would like to suggest to the Armenian Parliament to adopt provisions in the Electoral Code to provide for mobile ballot boxes. Moreover it calls upon relevant election authorities to ensure better access to the polling stations for disabled voters.

48.       The ad hoc committee welcomed the efforts made by the public television channel to ensure a more balanced coverage of these elections than was the case during the presidential elections.

49.       The formula used for the composition of the electoral committees proved to be problematic and contributed to a low public confidence in the electoral process. The ad hoc committee calls upon the incoming parliament to change the provisions in the Electoral Code so as to ensure that the composition of the electoral committees better reflect the political spectrum.

50.       The ad hoc committee welcomed the publication of a detailed breakdown of the results of these elections by the CEC. However in order to ensure the transparency of the tabulation process at all times, the publication of a detailed breakdown of the results by the CEC and RECs, which is imperative under internationally accepted democratic standards, should be required by law and not left to the benevolence of the relevant election authorities. The ad hoc committee therefore calls upon the Armenian Parliament to add such a provision in the Electoral Code.

51.       The ad hoc committee calls upon the Armenian authorities to ensure that there is no return to the sense of impunity prevalent after the Presidential elections and that those responsible for the irregularities observed are held accountable by law.

52.       Given the gravity of the situation, the ad hoc Committee invited the Bureau to consider sending a post-electoral mission to Yerevan, providing that our partners from the IEOM join this mission.

53.       The ad hoc Committee invites the Assembly to consider challenging the ratification of credentials (Rule 8 of the Rules of Procedure) of the new Armenian delegation given the scope and gravity of irregularities, in particular, during the vote count.

AD HOC COMMMITTEE FOR THE OBSERVATION OF THE

ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA

COMMISSION AD HOC SUR L’OBSERVATION DES ELECTIONS

EN ARMENIE

List of members of the pre-election delegation

Liste des membres de la délégation pré-électorale

23 –25 April 2003

socialist group (soc)

groupe socialiste (soc)

Mr Andreas GROSS       Switzerland / Suisse

group of the european people’s party (epp/cd)

groupe du parti populaire europeen (ppe/dc)

Mrs Zdravka BUŠIĆ       Croatia / Croatie

liberal, democratic and reformers’ group (ldr) /

groupe liberal, democrate et reformateur (ldr)

Lord RUSSELL-JOHNSTON       United Kingdom / Royaume-Uni

european democratic group (edg)

groupe des democrates europeens (gde)

Mr André KVAKKESTAD       Norway/ Norvège

group of the united left (uel)

groupe pour la gauche unitaire europeenne (gue)

Mr Jiŕi MAŠTÁLKA       Czech Republic / République tchèque

secretariat of the council of europe

secretaritat du conseil de l’europe

Mr Vladimir DRONOV, Head of the interparliamentary cooperation unit

Ms Farida JAMAL, Co-ordinator

Programme

Visit to Armenia of the Pre-election delegation

23 –25 April 2003

Wednesday 23 April 2003

14.00-14:45       Briefing with Natalya Voutova, Special Representative of the SG of CE

15:00-15:45       Meeting with the Armenian parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe

15:50-16:30       Meeting with Mr. Armen KHACHATRYAN, Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia

16:45-17:30       Meeting with Mr. Gagik HAROUTUNYAN, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia

17:45-18:30       Meeting with Mr. Robert KOCHARYAN, President of the Republic of Armenia

Thursday 24 April 2003

9.00-10.30       Meeting with Mr. Artak SAHRADYAN, Chairman of the Central Electoral Committee

11:00-13:00       Meeting with opposition political parties

13:00-14:30       Lunch break

14:30-15:30       Meeting with NGOs

15:30-16:30       Meeting with Media

17:30       Press Conference

22h20       TV Talk Show

APPENDIX 3

PRESS RELEASE

ARMENIA HAS WHAT IT TAKES TO HAVE ELECTIONS THAT ARE

FREE AND FAIR

Yerevan 24 April 2003

A five-member* delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) made a pre-election visit to the Republic of Armenia at the invitation of the Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia.

Observation of elections is an important facet in the activities of the Assembly, allowing it to ascertain how the State in question is honouring the obligations it assumed upon acceding to the Council of Europe.

The dispatch of a pre-election mission signifies the special importance that the Assembly attaches to the situation in the state to be observed.

PACE conducted two observation missions to monitor the Armenian Presidential elections earlier this year that recorded grave irregularities and flaws in the electoral process, in particular during the vote count.

The delegation led by Lord Russell-Johnston, met with the President of the Republic, Mr Kocharyan; Chairman of the Central Electoral Committee, Mr Sahradyan; Chairman of the National Assembly, Mr Khachatryan; Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Mr Haroutunyan; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Oskanyan; and held meetings with opposition political parties, NGOs and the media.

“Armenian people certainly have the potential to hold free and fair elections” said Lord Russell-Johnston. ‘What remains lacking”, he continued, “is a meaningful political dialogue between the country’s political leaders. There is a serious lack of trust which undermines progress and must be addressed in the long term”.

As to the election on 25 May,

“We return having been assured that our principle criticisms have been accepted by the authorities and that every effort will be made to ensure that the irregularities of the Presidential election are not repeated.

I believe that this can be done but, as with so many things ‘the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.”

APPENDIX 4

Ad Hoc Committee for the
Observation of the parliamentary elections in Armenia

PROGRAMME

of meetings from Friday 23 May to Monday 26 May 2003

(Yerevan)

Friday 23 May 2003 at 11 am

(Queen Erato Room 2nd Floor)

1. Opening of the meeting by the senior member

2. Election of the Chair ( Head of Delegation) and Rapporteur

3. Oral Report on the Pre-electoral mission (23-25 April 2003)

4. Up-date on the situation in Armenia by Mrs Natalya Voutova, Special Representative of the Secretary General for the Council of Europe

5. Practical arrangements (Deployment etc.)

Friday 23 (from 1 pm) and Saturday 24 May

6. Briefing (see attached Programme)

Sunday 25 May 2003 (Opening of Polling stations at 8 am)

7. Observation of Voting and vote count

Monday 26 May 2003 at 10.30 am

8. Assessment of the elections

9. Press conference

Briefing Programme

Friday 23 May 2003

12:30 – 13:30       Working Brunch - Head of PACE and OSCE PA Delegations with Ambassador Robert Barry, (Head of EOM)

13:30 – 13:45       Welcome

13:45 – 14:30       Political Background and the Campaign

14:30 – 15:00       Legal and Election Issues

15:00 – 15:30       Voting and Counting Procedures

15:30 – 15:45       Coffee Break (room tbc)

15:45 – 16:15       Deployment Information

16:30 – 17:30       Meeting with President Robert Kocharian (tbc)

18:30       Reception at the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs


Saturday 24 May

09:00 – 09:30       Chairman of the Constitutional Court (at the Court)

10:00 – 1045       Mr Artak Sahradyan, Chairman CEC (at the CEC)

11:00       PARTY BRIEFINGS

11:30 – 12:00       Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutian

12:00 – 12:30       Justice Alliance

12:30 – 13:30       LUNCH BREAK

13:45 – 14:15       Orinats Yerkir

14:15 – 14:45       National Unity

14:45 – 15:15       Mighty Homeland

15:15 – 15:30       COFFEE BREAK

15:30 - 16:00       Armenian Ramkavar Liberal Party (2 candidates)

16:30 – 17:00        United Labour Party

17:00 – 18:00       Round Table Meeting with NGOs

First:       ‘It’s Your Choice’, Armat an

APPENDIX 5

PRESS RELEASE

APPENDIX 6.

Final results of the Parliamentary Elections in Armenia (*)

(25 May 2003)

Party

Number of seats won in the proportional system

Number of seats won in the majoritarian system

Total

Republican Party of Armenia

23

9

32

Law-Governed Country (Orinats Yerkir)

12

6

18

Justice Bloc

14

2

16

Armenian Revolutionary Federation - Dashnaktsutyan

11

-

11

National Unity

9

-

9

United Labour Party

6

-

6

Independent and non-affiliated candidates

-

36

36

Total

75

53 (*)

128 (*)

(*)       These results were published by the Central Election Commission of Armenia on 31 May 2003. The results of the majoritarian races in three districts (12th, 29th and 41st) were invalidated and new majoritarian elections for these districts were called for 14 and 15 June 2003.

* Members of the Delegation:

LORD RUSSELL-JOHNSTON, UNITED KINGDOM, (LDR)

MR. ANDREAS GORSS, SWITZERLAND, (SOC)

MRS. ZDRAVKA BUSIC, CROATIA, (EPP/CD)

MR. ANDRE KVAKKESTAD, NORWAY, (EDG)

MR. JIRI MASTALKA, CZECH REPUBLIC, (UEL)