The OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission in Armenia has heard allegations of use of administrative resources and vote-buying, and this is a serious matter. This was stated by Eoghan Murphy, the head of this mission, at a press conference on Monday, and in connection with Sunday’s snap parliamentary elections in Armenia.

He stressed that such suspicions were voiced both by the ruling party and other parties.

Murphy added that they take these allegations seriously, there have been election irregularities that have been acknowledged by the relevant state bodies, it is assumed that all these allegations will be processed, and their task is to investigate the course of the cases on allegations of violations of the Electoral Code in the framework of post-election process.

The head of the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission noted that on election day, persons with disabilities had problems entering certain polling stations, and that there were reports that the number of people at polling stations sometimes exceeded the established norms.

He stressed that as for the work of the media, there was a certain political dependence, and cases of pressure on and intimidation of reporters were registered. In addition, according to him, there have been complaints from political forces that they have not received enough airtime to present their programs.

As per Murphy, aggressive and personalized behavior during the election campaign may have hindered constructiveness a bit.

But the head of the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission concluded that in any case, they believe that the election process was well-organized in Armenia, a level playing field was created, there were no obstacles before their observation mission, and the Armenian authorities were as transparent as the civil society representatives when working with the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission.