ARMENPRESS: Newly elected authorities have received a clear mandate from the people - PACE report on Armenia

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Hayk Konjoryan (Civil Contract) has commented on the PACE election observation report on Armenia’s June 7 polls, highlighting that it mentions, “The newly elected authorities have thus received a clear mandate from the people.”

In a statement on social media, Konjoryan mentioned that the report highlights that the elections “were held in the shadow of momentous geopolitical realignment.”

“The [mission] concluded that the parliamentary elections offered voters a genuine choice among political alternatives in a well-run process,” the report says.

“Election day was orderly and calm, and the process was assessed positively in the vast majority of polling stations observed by the IEOM [International Election Observation Mission]. Women were well represented among PEC members in these polling stations, comprising 70% of members and 51% of chairpersons.”

“These elections were marked by foreign interference on a scale described by observers as both “unprecedented and worrying”. The Russian Federation, in particular, leveraged economic sanctions (embargoes on agricultural products and threatened gas supply revisions) and sharp diplomatic rhetoric to sway the election toward opposition-aligned or anti-government parties,” it added.

The PACE report further said that “the Russian Federation’s interference and foreign information operations reached a scale unprecedented in a Council of Europe member State.”

“The election results indicate that the Armenian people have chosen the pro-European path. Society has demonstrated its democratic resilience despite the shortcomings observed and external pressures on an unprecedented scale. The newly elected authorities have thus received a clear mandate from the people, which they must now honour.”