We, the undersigned civil society organizations, express our deep concern with
the presidential elections on February 19, 2008, the pre-election period, the
election campaign and the post-election processes in the country. The assessment
of international observers, even though portrayed in a positive light by the
government and the government controlled media, was critical. However, the
apparent discrepancy between the actual findings of the assessment with the
formative first two sentences of the report resulted in the government only
referring to this paragraph in the international observers’ assessment in order
to legitimize the results of the election. Meanwhile, in the report,
international observers pointed out to media censorship, intimidation of voters,
vote buying, etc. and called vote count ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ in 16 percent of
polling stations visited. Qualifying such practices as a “step forward” and in
line with the commitments to hold free and fair elections discredits the notion
of democracy and further lowers the standards of democratic reforms.

A number of undersigned organizations observed the elections during the voting
day as well as the process prior and post February 19. The instances of
violations are numerous and are documented in our reports.

We are particularly concerned with the Freedom of Media/Access to Media,
Violence, Corruption and Use of Administrative Resources, Arrests of Public
Figures.

One of the main points that the OSCE/ODHIR observation mission made in its
interim report concerned the need to establish public trust in the electoral
process. Deep rooted mistrust and often-referred-to public apathy is nothing
else but self-preservation reaction of the Armenian people vs. the atmosphere of
impunity for those who perpetrated electoral fraud in all past elections. The
processes taking place after the elections are alarming and will definitely
deepen the public distrust.

We believe that as long as electoral fraud goes uninvestigated and unpunished,
there will be no trust in the process and in the legal and judicial system.

We believe that only through open and widely inclusive public discussion over
the above stated problems and violations it is possible to foster the atmosphere
of trust and public confidence.

In view of the above, we state that this election was not held in correspondence
with our understanding of democratic values and practices.

We believe that the way the authorities handle the fraud will be indicative of
the honest determination to abide by the rules of democratic free and fair
elections.

We call upon the Armenian government to stop politically motivated detentions.
These are not calls for impunity, but a call for the government to set the
example for the Armenian people and to act within the law.

We call upon the international community to see through the commitment of the
Armenian government to comply with the procedure and to require documentation of
proper investigation and due punishment of those who violated the law.

We call upon the international community to make objective conclusions based on
their own findings and not to discredit the notion of democracy, democratic
standards and principles, as well as the international organizations carrying
out an observation mission.

Signatories

“Asparez” Journalists’ Club

Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression

Helsinki Committee of Armenia

Helsinki Citizens Assembly Vanadzor Branch

“Internews-Armenia” Media Support NGO

Media Diversity Institute

Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation-Armenia

Transparency International Anti-corruption Center

Yerevan Press Club