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International Election Observation Missions observe Armenian elections since 1996 and election legislation and administration have improved significantly with the assistance of these missions. The conducted study evaluated recommendations and observations made by international election missions since 2003, including OSCE/ODIHR, PACE, EP, and others, analyzing their role in electoral reforms and the impact of those changes on future elections.

HCA Vanadzor analyzed implementation of 193 recommendations (in total 336 including repetition over years) submitted to the Armenian authorities since 2003 Presidential Elections. About 53 % (102) of recommendations repeated several times during the 10 years. The recommendations have been divided into 30 categories based on the topic they cover.

In general, there were 73 recommendations made after 2003 Presidential Election, 84 recommendations were made after 2003 Parliamentary Election and mostly repeated those from the Presidential Elections. 52 recommendations were made after 2007 Parliamentary Elections and 48 recommendations were made after 2008 Presidential Election. 40 recommendations were submitted after 2012 Parliamentary Elections and the majority of them repeated after 2013 Presidential Election, when a total of 40 recommendations were presented.

The recommendations were assessed against four main criteria:

• Concreteness – refers to how specific is the proposed amendment – 190 recommendations
• Relevance – refers to the extent they reflect the identified violations and the processes as perceived by domestic observers – 180 recommendations
• Implemented – refers to whether the proposed amendment was incorporated in legislation or realized in some other proposed way – 98 recommendations
• Effectiveness – implemented recommendations were assessed according to how effective their implementation was in preventing further violation of law – 41 recommendations

The wording of statements made during the first several elections by the OSCE/ODIHR became notably milder as IEOMs joined forces since 2008 and the recommendations submitted by the IEOMs do not address all violations reported by the IEOMs. Public disapproval of the initial statement by the joint international observation mission involving the OSCE/ODIHR, PACE, EP after the most recent Presidential Election showed that the Armenian population expects more consistency from the international community toward the Armenian authorities to ensure that electoral changes and reforms are not formal and the IEOMs consistently follow-up on the recommendations provided by them. Safeguards have to be created against continuous and widespread vote-buying, voter intimidation, abuse of administrative resources, and impunity for electoral violations prior to the Parliamentary Elections in 2017. At the same time it should be emphasized that the determination of the authorities to conduct fair and democratic elections and to increase public trust toward electoral processes is what counts as most essential.

HCA Vanadzor recommendations to the International election observation missions

• Conduct an in depth analysis of the schemes of falsifications in order to propose effective safeguards against them
• Advocate for disclosing signed voter lists following elections
• Collaborate closely and continuously with domestic election observers in drafting recommendations
• Advocate for a more proactive role of the CEC in verifying documents submitted to the Commission
• Develop an action plan together with the Armenian authorities for implementation of the recommendations that have not been implemented or have not been implemented effectively based on the assessment by HCA Vanadzor

Recommendations to the RA National Assembly Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs

• Ensure legislative implementation of IEOM recommendations submitted in 2003-2013
• Stipulate the obligation of the CEC to verify the grounds and origin of documents submitted by candidates, including certificates about registration and residence, declared income, reports on campaign expenditures
• Restore the right of observer organizations to appeal electoral violations and election results
• Clearly stipulate the obligations and functions of law enforcement bodies and particularly the police, in terms of prevention of electoral violations during the entire electoral process and the Election Day
• Ensure that the RA citizens are able to exercise their voting right abroad on the Election Day through the RA Diplomatic and Consular Missions
• Legally stipulate that signed voter lists be published within three days after the Election Day on the official website of the CEC
• Restore the provision in the Electoral Code stipulating that observers would not be prosecuted for their opinions about the electoral process
• Stipulate the obligation of the CEC and TECs to prevent electoral violations outside of the 50 meter radius of the polling station
• Eliminate the requirement to take a qualification test for conducting election observation and to legally stipulate that observer organizations are responsible for recruiting competent and impartial observers
• Eliminate the provision of revoking the accreditation of an observer organization due to partiality of one observer.

Recommendations to the RA Central Electoral Commission

• Ensure proper implementation of IEOM recommendations on election administration

Separate the list of voters who are abroad 5 days before the Election Day.

See the report here.

(Please note that the originally published report in English contained some inaccuracies and was revised on August 13, 2015.)

The project is implemented by Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – Vanadzor with financial support from the European Commission in the framework of the project “EPDE support for advocacy campaigns on electoral issues in the Eastern Partnership countries”, implemented by Promo-LEX Association. Opinions expressed in this report belong to the participants and do not necessarily reflect those of the funders.