Wetteland about elections in Armenia: boring, but honest

The voting at elections to the Council of Elders of Yerevan showed the increased confidence of Armenian residents in the process. This was stated by Lene Wetteland, an adviser of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, in her interview published by the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that after counting more than half of the ballots, the "My Step" block, headed by the comedian Hayk Marutyan is gaining more than 80% of the votes at the elections to the Council of Elders of Yerevan. The voter turnout, according to preliminary data, was 43.65%.

The principal difference of the current elections in Yerevan from the previous ones was that people voluntarily came to polling stations: earlier, the turnout of 40% was ensured by pressure, bribery of voters and administrative resources, but the September 23 elections with the voter turnout of 43% "largely corresponded to democratic standards," Ms Wetteland has stated.

According to her estimates, violations were single and could not affect the outcomes. "There were only rumours about bribery; and they were very rare, not the earlier scale. And it was noticeable," Lene Wetteland has emphasized.

The full text of the interview with Lene Wetteland is available in Russian language.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 24, 2018 at 09:04 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.