"Europeans are in the same mud"
"I don't take Europeans seriously," Heritage representative at the Central Election Commission Zoya Tadevosian said to A1+.
She is not surprised that the PACE plenary session didn't start a heated debate over the Yerevan municipal election and reported large-scale election frauds.
"I don't take Europeans, to put it more correctly, the West seriously. Europeans know no other value but fast food. If European observers say the Yerevan City Council elections were in line with European standards it means Europeans are in the same mud."
The PACE Monitoring Committee suggested that the Armenian Electoral Code be further amended. Zoya Tadevosian doesn't agree to this. "Who says that the Electoral Code is put into effect in Armenia? Everyone ignores it during elections and does whatever he has been ordered. Even the best Electoral Code will not help us if we don't want to conduct a fair and free election."
Mrs. Tadevosian assesses the municipal election as a regress even in comparison with last year's presidential election. "All mechanisms and methods applied during the presidential election were used at the municipal election. It wasn't a bit surprising that Armenia's First President Levon Ter-Petrosian announced that the municipal election had a state significance."
Zoya Tadevosian thinks that unless the electoral system is changed in Armenia we cannot have free and fair elections. In the firs place, representatives of opposition and authorities should have equal footing at electoral commissions.
Zoya Tadevosian thinks the general pardon applied to election falsifiers simply gives them a new thrust.
"Election riggers are hardened criminal. Election rigging is a crime against the state, against our children, against everyone. By the time riggers are sponsored, they are sure to remain unpunished."
