“Arrests, detentions, insults: I’m seeing this kind of election campaign in CIS countries for the first time”: Kobitsky

Complaints from opposition blocs and parties against Pashinyan’s party went unanswered, noted Alexander Savin, Russian senator, after observing the elections in Armenia.

The parties stated that all the legal complaints they filed regarding violations by “Civil Contract” have yet to receive a response, he said during a briefing organized for the CIS IPA observer mission.

For his part, Dmitry Kobitsky, secretary general of the secretariat of the Council of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (IPA), stated that the atmosphere surrounding the parliamentary elections in Armenia was tense, and that such a campaign had not been seen in the CIS for many years.
During its work, the CIS and CIS IPA observer mission met with representatives of all major parties and blocs participating in the elections.

“The atmosphere of the campaign was extremely tense. There were, as you know, a large number of arrests, detentions, and insults. I am seeing this kind of election campaign in CIS countries for the first time, even though the CIS IPA has been monitoring elections in our countries since 1994, more than 30 years,” Kobitsky said at the observers’ briefing.

He noted that the CIS IPA observer mission always strives to be objective and neutral regarding political processes in CIS countries. “We have certainly not seen such an active campaign period in any of our countries in recent years,” he added.