Visits of EU and US high-ranking officials could have had an impact on the results of Armenia's parliamentary elections on Sunday, suggested Janez Lenarcic, head of the election observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

At a press conference on Monday, Lenarcic noted that the observation mission followed all stages of the electoral process, and their assessment is based on directly received and analyzed data.

According to him, despite various problems recorded, voters in Armenia were given the opportunity to make a real choice. The process was organized at a high level, the polling station commissions worked transparently, and the meetings were broadcast.

Nevertheless, the elections were held in an atmosphere of unprecedented pressure, sanctions, and daily threats, as they concerned the consequences expected in the event of one or another outcome of the vote.

External influence was also recorded. The election campaign was extremely polarized and was accompanied by provocative and offensive rhetoric. At the same time, although there was progress compared to the 2021 parliamentary elections, many of the recommendations of the ODIHR and the Venice Commission have not been implemented.

European observers said they did not record a systematic use of administrative resources, but they received numerous reports—some of which are quite credible—of pressure exerted on voters by the ruling party. This, along with economic measures, put the authorities in a more advantageous position. Added to this was pressure on the opposition, arrests and persecution of opposition figures, which had an impact on the participation rates at opposition events. Social media monitoring also showed attempts to use artificial intelligence to discredit competitors.

According to the European observer, there are also problems with the transparency of party financing. The media have largely simply disseminated the rhetoric of political opponents, and programmatic analysis has been limited. There has been a clear bias in favor of the authorities on the part of the state-funded Public Television of Armenia, while some private media outlets have adopted the opposite approach, as a result of which voters have been deprived of the opportunity to receive objective information.

Responding to the question of what exactly he meant by “external pressure and influence,” the head of the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission explained that external pressure is the restrictions applied by Russia, which have been accompanied by statements by various Russian officials and threats to Armenia’s sovereignty. And addressing the second part of the question, he pointed to the visits of senior officials from the EU and the US.