“I’M HAPPY TO BE RECEIVED BY ROBERT KOCHARYAN TOMORROW”
Support A1+!The RA Foreign Ministry has not yet sent an invitation to the OSCE in order to send an observing mission to Armenia for the Parliamentary elections. Nevertheless, Ambassador Christian Strohal, Director of the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) arrived in Armenia today in order to meet high officials of Armenia.
“The RA Government still has time to send the invitation. We are here in order to discuss the ranges of cooperation between the OSCE and Armenia. We must discuss both law and practical issues, as well as those referring to the observers mission”, said ODIHR Director Christian Strohal to «A1+» after the meeting with Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan. He found it difficult to inform how many observers will arrive in Armenia.
Asked by «Haykakan Zhamanak» if it is possible to organize free and fair elections in Armenia when there are no independent TV companies, Mr. Strohal answered, «You know that monitoring of Mass media forms part of the monitoring of the elections. Of course we would like the pluralism of the pre-election campaign to be found in the Mass Media too».
By the way, this is the second visit of the ODIHR Director to Armenia. «Armenia is the only country in Europe where there is snow», he said.
