The United Kingdom congratulates the Armenian people on the successful conduct of snap parliamentary elections, Head of the UK Delegation to the OSCE Neil Bush said Thursday, June 25.
Bush expressed gratitude to ODIHR for all the work of the Election Observation Mission and for their reports, including their statement of preliminary findings and conclusions.
"We were pleased to read in the statement that the elections were competitive and generally well managed within the short time-frame. Voters were provided with a broad range of options, and fundamental rights and freedoms were generally respected, with contestants being able to campaign freely," the UK envoy said.
"We share concerns that the campaign period was characterized by intense polarization and marred by increasingly inflammatory rhetoric, and that women were side-lined throughout the campaign."
Bush added that the UK will continue its close partnership with Armenia, including through cooperation on democratic and economic reforms.
Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party won almost 54% of the vote, while Hayastan (Armenia) bloc headed by second President Robert Kocharyan secured over 21% of the ballots. "I Have Honor" bloc too will get seats in the parliament.
