Three local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have accredited as of February 14 to engage in election monitoring processes during Armenia’s parliamentary elections set on April 2.
As Panorama.am learnt from the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia (CEC), Democracy Law International Center (133 observers), Chamber of United Leaders (137 observers), and Pan-Armenian Youth Association (189 observers) NGOs have been registered thus far to oversight the forthcoming elections.
According to the CEC approved timetable for preparing and conducting parliamentary elections, the application period for registration observer groups or making changes in the submitted lists runs from December 30 through March 18.
Earlier, the Head of the Public Relations Department at the National Assembly of Armenia Arsen Babayan told Panorama.am that invitations to observe the elections had been sent to number of international organizations, such as CoE, PACE, OSCE, and CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.
To remind, recently published OSCE/ODIHR Needs Assessment Mission Report recommended an election observation mission for the 2 April parliamentary elections, contingent upon the receipt of an official invitation from the Armenian authorities.
In its recommendation the authors of the report had suggested apart from the core team of experts the secondment of 24 long-term observers from OSCE participating states to follow the electoral process countrywide, and 250 short-term observers to follow election day proceedings.