US State Department congratulates people of Armenia on elections
YEREVAN, June 22, /ARKA/. The United States congratulated the people of Armenia on their June 20 parliamentary elections.
‘We welcome the overall positive assessment by the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission. We are p leased that ODIHR’s preliminary conclusions noted voters’ human rights and fundamental freedoms were generally respected, contestants were able to campaign freely, and that ODIHR assessed election-day vote counting as positive. We share ODIHR’s concern regarding intense polarization and inflammatory rhetoric among key contestants. We urge Armenians of all political affiliations to respect the results of these elections once certified, employ the legal election grievance process to address issues of concern, and avoid political retaliation as Armenia continues to pursue a sovereign, democratic, peaceful, and prosperous future,’ Spokesperson for the Department of State Ned Price said in a statement.
He said the United States is committed to strengthening our partnership with Armenia based on shared democratic values.
‘We commend Armenia for the progress it has made with respect to reforms and anti-corruption efforts and encourage Armenia to continue along this path, in line with the aspirations of the Armenian people, as expressed in the spring of 2018. We urge all parties to respect the rule of law and democratic principles and look forward to working with the new Government to grow our bilateral relationship and cooperation.
We commend Ambassador Lynne Tracy and U.S. Embassy Staff in Yerevan for their strong, ongoing support for Armenia’s democratic development. Through their dedication and hard work, we will continue to advance the U.S.-Armenia partnership.'
According to the official results announced by the Central Election Commission (CEC) on Monday morning, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party won almost 54 percent of the vote and will retain a two-thirds majority in the Armenian parliament.
Ex-president Robert Kocharyan’s Armenia bloc came in a distant second with 21 percent, followed by the opposition Pativ Unem alliance led by another ex-president, Serzh Sargsyan which got 5.2 percent.
Although Pativ Unem failed to clear the 7 percent threshold it will have parliament seats because Armenian law stipulates that at least three political forces must be represented in the National Assembly.-0-
