Sona Ayvazyan, Deputy Director of Transparency International Anti-corruption Center and Attorney Sara Anjargolian were the guests of "The Angle" show on Civilnet. Representatives of TIAC, together with Europe in Law Association accomplished observation mission during the presidential elections and would be continuing election monitoring during May 5 Yerevan City Council Elections. The guests talked about the role and importance of election observers and invited Diaspora Armenians to join in the observation effort on the day of Yerevan City Council elections.

In Sona Ayvazyans opinion elections in Armenia are always accompanied with violations, putting under question the legitimacy of the elected officials, who do not really represent the people and are not accountable to the people but instead are accountable to the oligarchs, the criminals who helped them to come to power. These processes do not allow Armenia to develop democratically.

It is the responsibility of each citizen to take part in the process of democratization and to monitor the elections. During presidential elections TIAC realized how big difference observation of elections can make. TIAC representatives were included in the mission of Europe in Law Association and observed elections in district 17 in Ararat marz. One of the observers engaged in this mission was TIAC intern - 21-year-old US citizen Narine Esmaeili. She witnessed the rudest violation throughout the country, being physically assaulted. However, Narine demonstrated courage and basically showed an example of a conscious citizen who does not tolerate fraud and injustice and tried to contribute to the democratic development of Armenia.

This example gave TIAC an idea to engage not only observers from Armenia, but also call for Diaspora participation and observation. Through her story Narine really encouraged and inspired Diaspora Armenians. On the heels of that example many Diasporans got together and decided to encourage their fellow Diasporans to join the ranks of TIAC and to monitor elections.