Ambassador of the Great Britain to Armenia worries about exaggerated lists of voters

• Tuesday, January 22, 17:06

 Ambassador of the Great Britain to Armenia Katherine Leach touched on the topic of the forthcoming presidential elections in Armenia in her blog.

"I'm pleased to say that the UK will send 25 election observers to join the ODIHR mission.   We really welcome President Sargsyan's commitment to holding Armenia's best ever election.  But it is disappointing that three of the key non-government parties in parliament are neither putting up a candidate of their own nor backing any other.  Are these parties not standing because they lack finance, because they lack trust in a fair result, or because they are not really opposition parties as we would normally understand the concept?  If they lack finance, is it because potential wealthy
backers are concerned about what will happen to their businesses if they back the wrong horse  or because they have not found a way of communicating their message in a way which would inspire donations from the general public?  (It's interesting that, despite predictions to the contrary, President Obama raised more funds than Mitt Romney in 2012, largely thanks to his success in connecting with voters and activists and getting many small donations of under $200).  In monitoring the campaign and talking to members of all the parties over the next month, we'll be doing our best to understand what more could be done to promote a truly vibrant spirit of political competition.   

But after over a decade of elections badly marred by fraud, perhaps the biggest challenge for the Armenian authorities in this election is trying to rebuild and win the trust of its people and partners. Will this happen? I very much hope so.  Looking from the outside, it seems to me that the following three areas are crucial ones for state authorities to focus on during the election period  and in the follow-up period afterwards.  the voter list.  I know there have been commendable efforts by local police and NGOs to check lists and deal with some of the inaccuracies and practices which look open to abuse
(e.g. multiple names registered to a garage).  But the fact that the list has continued to increase since 1991 when people's day to day experience tells them that the country has lost population creates unease for the ordinary voter.  Thinking about ways to give people confidence in the list  perhaps by requiring an annual re-registering  might be the answer in future.  In the meantime, the authorities can make every effort to follow up and investigate
precincts where there appear to be unusually high turn-out or vote tabulations showing surprisingly repetitive numbers.  the involvement of public servants.  It would be great to see strong messages from all senior political figures during the campaign about the importance of impartiality for all public servants (civil servants, teachers, doctors, lawyers, police etc), especially when they are dealing with their colleagues/subordinates, or those members of the public dependent on them (e.g. parents in a school).  responding vigorously to complaints.  Not all complaints may have sufficient evidence/legal base to result in a criminal charge, but if the authorities can show that they are responding quickly and seriously to concerns raised by
citizens, this may have an increasingly preventative/deterrent effect, and will increase the ordinary voter's confidence that the authorities mean what they say.  

We're really looking forward to the campaign and hope that there will be a real discussion not just of personalities, but also of policies".