The European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) hosted a post-election roundtable during which heads of domestic and international election observation missions, as well as international experts and foreign dignitaries discussed conclusions from their election monitoring and formulated recommendations for the future. These elections were notable not just for Armenia, but also in an international context. OSCE ODIHR, OSCE PA, and the PACE were able to jointly conduct their first full observation mission since the COVID-19 outbreak.
From the outset, all observers noted the well conducted and fair electoral process. One could see that Armenia is building on previous good electoral practice established during the milestone 2018 elections, which leaves experts hopeful that democratic backsliding in Armenia becomes harder as Armenians are getting used to the good quality of their elections. These elections were also the most competitive, unpredictable, and expensive elections with 25 political forces running in the race. Some experts have called these elections “boring”, in the sense that there were no significant violations or procedural errors.
The true winner of the elections were the Armenian voters, claimed one observer, as they voted freely and overwhelmingly for a continuation of democratic reforms. Despite the tense environment surrounding this election and the high level of political polarization which was being stirred up by candidates, voting day remained peaceful. Voters were therefore not swayed by the rhetoric and carried out their civic duty.
Official voter turnout was around 49%, which largely correlated with the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) carried out by the independent https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/armenia/490307
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