YEREVAN.- Observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) issued on Thursday an interim report on Armenia’s elections.

The report mentions the exact number of candidates and the election system. It is noted that some 237 of all registered candidates (about 20 per cent) are women.

“Anew Electoral Code was adopted in May 2011. The Code was assessed as comprehensive and generally providing a solid framework for the conduct of democratic elections, but there are still areas where it could benefit from improvement,” the report says.

According to observers, the Central Election Commission is active in making preparations for the elections, meeting legal deadlines.

However, it is mentioned that several OSCE/ODIHR EOM interlocutors have raised concerns about the quality of the voter list, which according to the authorities is continuously improving.

The new Electoral Code has strengthened campaign-finance rules and introduced higher campaign spending limits, the report says.

“Almost all of the some 40 election-related complaints filed thus far were denied consideration, mostly due to applicants not having the right to file such complaints or due to a lack of jurisdiction. There is an overlapping jurisdiction between superior election commissions and the Administrative Court in dealing with election-related complaints,” the observers say.

The OSCE/ODIHR observation mission opened in Yerevan on 22 March, with a 14-member core team and 24 long-term observers who are deployed to 10 locations throughout the country.