Once again, I need to reaffirm that Armenia is a bastion of democracy in the region and needs to aspire to be a bastion of democracy in all parts of the world. This is what deputy of the ruling My Step faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Vladimir Vardanyan told reporters today.

Touching upon Freedom House’s report according to which Armenia has recorded a drop for the first time since 2018, he said the following: “I’m not familiar with the report, but I can say that democracy is not a stable and static category. You won’t find any post-war country that hasn’t recorded certain aftershocks. The aim of the upcoming snap elections is to restore internal stability in the country and help the country hold the same positions that it had before the war in terms of foreign relations.”

Touching upon the changes in electoral processes, Vardanyan informed that the parliament has held rather long discussions on the changes with the Venice Commission and that the changes partially reflect the positions expressed by the Venice Commission, adding that relevant corrections have been made, taking into consideration the problems with the electoral processes in Armenia and international standards.