During the evening of Monday 3 April, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service stated that the result of the parliamentary elections in Armenia on 2 April reflected the overall will of the Armenian people, despite the irregularities identified. According to the figures from the central electoral commission after counting 99.8% of the votes, the Republican party of Armenia's President Serzh Sarksyan reportedly carried 49.15% of the votes.
"According to the preliminary conclusions of the International Election Observation Mission (EOM), the elections were well-administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected. However, the elections were tainted by credible information about vote-buying, and pressure on civil servants and employees of private companies, which contributed to an overall lack of public confidence and trust in the elections", the EEAS spokesperson stated, adding that "the election result nevertheless reflects the overall will of the Armenian people".
In a press release, the EEAS spokesperson said that the EOM had "welcomed" the introduction of new technologies, as well as reforms of the legal framework. "Despite some minor technical problems, fewer irregularities concerning ballot box stuffing, double voting, counting and tabulation of results were recorded by observers", the spokesperson added, regretting the fact that international non-governmental organisations had not been not invited to observe, in contradiction to the 1990 OSCE Copenhagen Document.
"Once the electoral process has been completed, we look forward to working with the democratically elected new parliament and government to strengthen our political dialogue and continue our support to economic and social reform", the EEAS spokesperson said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)