YEREVAN. – U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern touched upon forthcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia on his video blog.

He stressed that the quality of the elections is obviously important to the Armenian people and for Armenia’s future. But it is also important for Armenia’s bilateral relations with the US and other western partners.

“That’s why we are interested in observing Armenia’s elections,” he said adding that they would use the assessments to better target electoral assistance to make sure that the assistance is put to the best possible use.

John Heffern also spoke about recent local elections in Armenia stressing there were some strong candidates. According to him, political competition is essential for democracy.

“In these local elections we saw that using a new Electoral Code has increased the importance of the party proxies, the observers, the poll workers and journalists to ensure free fair elections,” he added. The Ambassador brought several examples which he considers contributed to orderly and transparent voting and vote count.

He pointed out responsibilities of the government and the voters.

“Government and law enforcement have responsibility to follow up on any allegations of electoral violations that they hear. Voters have responsibilities too, the first voting conscious, besides if you see something on the election day or election period that does not look right report to the authorities and follow up with them to take action,” he emphasized.

Summing up, he urged the government, the opposition parties, civil society and journalists to do what ever they can to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

“The US embassy promise on our part to do what we can,” he concluded.