Human Rights Watch has issued an annual world report summarizing human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide in 2012.

The report on Armenia says country’s ruling coalition retained a parliamentary majority following the May 2012 elections amid allegations of abuse of administrative resources, and intimidation of voters, observers, and journalists.

“The government has yet to offer conscientious objectors a genuine civilian alternative to military service and has failed to effectively investigate a troubling number of non-combat deaths in the military.

Politically motivated defamation lawsuits no longer appear to be a problem, but media pluralism is lacking, and some journalists covering the May 6 parliamentary elections suffered violent attacks by onlookers, some of them members of Armenia’s ruling political party. Violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation are serious problems. Bureaucratic restrictions prevent people with terminal illnesses from accessing strong pain medications.”

As to the May 6 parliamentary election, the authors present assessments of the OSCE monitoring report which labels the May 6 parliamentary elections as competitive and largely peaceful, yet marred by “an unequal playing field” due to misuse of administrative resources, and party representatives and local authorities pressuring voters, interfering in voting, and hindering the work of journalists.

The report also mentions cases of army abuses citing local human rights groups which reported 44 non-combat army deaths through September.