OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE CONCERNED ABOUT SITUATION BEFORE SECOND ROUND OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN ARMENIA

OSCE chairman-in-office, foreign minister of Netherlands Jaap de Hoop Scheffer expressed concern over the situation in Armenia before the second round of the presidential elections. As reported by the OSCE Yerevan office, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer emphasized that in the course of the electoral race “none of the parties should resort to violence and anti-constitutional actions.” To reduce the tension before the second round of the elections he called to release the people against whom administrative proceedings were instituted, but who had not exercised violence during the pre-election period. The OSCE chairman-in-office also called the Armenian authorities to respect the commitments fixed in the Copenhagen document of 1990, which specifically noted the electoral race should be held “in a free and fair environment – without use of violence and administrative actions.”