Epress.am News from Armenia
President of Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) Karekin Azaryan, who on Thursday was re-elected to his post, told reporters at a news conference today that the CEC organizes elections and does not make political decisions, even though CEC members work in politics.
Asked by Epress.am what the public’s distrust of CEC’s activities might be due to and what is the CEC president personally prepared to do to restore this trust, Azaryan said those who have even a little bit of contact with the Commission soon change their mind about this body.
“For those not in contact [with us] to change, we need to have courage so that we present that which we see. I, of course, see my share of the blame in this; I can’t teach everyone what elections mean, how they are to be organized and how to carry out educating the constituency,” he said.
The CEC president said their main issue has to be explaining to voters “what the voting ballot is worth.”
“If you find a good version in carrying out that education, please, get in touch; I’m searching, as are the new Commission members. Suggest the best way to educate. This also has to be the TV companies’ problem; they have to invite CEC members [to talk on air] more; they will explain what Armenian citizens have to do, we’ll explain what the voting ballot is worth. If we can explain that its value is the cost of the country’s welfare in the coming 4–5 years, we will have normal elections,” he said, noting that selling votes during elections is unacceptable.
Azaryan said he’s never said that there have not been falsifications during elections, but this significantly differs from the concept of “falsified (or rigged) elections.”
“If someone says that there haven’t been falsifications during elections, I will gladly cede my place to him. But our issue has to be ensuring great participation [in elections] — the greater the participation, the lower the percentage of electoral falsifications,” he said.