On May 10, 2017 Sona Ayvazyan, Executive Director of Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC) participated in a discussion with the Armenian CSO representatives on “Landmark elections in Armenia: turning the tide or preserving the status quo?” in European Endowment for Democracy (EED) office in Brussels and presented the findings of election observation mission, addressing mechanisms of fraud, the atmosphere in Armenia and made recommendations on its improvement.

Organized by the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and EED, the discussion focused on the significance of Armenia’s recent parliamentary elections - the first since the country’s transition to a parliamentary system as a result of referendum. The discussion looked at the impact of civil society on improving electoral practices and longer-term ramifications of the vote for both Armenia and the wider region.

According to Sona Ayvazyan, despite measures introduced to tackle election fraud, what happened on the day of election was complete distortion of the electoral process and the institute of elections in general in various forms. Citizens became more cynical about the electoral institute. They think it is impossible to change anything and saw their attendance at the polling station merely as a ceremonial act rather than as an exercise of their democratic rights.

She also recalled the deep concerns voiced by civil society during the referendum in 2015. Given the unprecedented level of electoral violations uncovered, Ayvazyan said that, in her view, the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission had been wrong to endorse government’s change to a parliamentary system.

See the website of Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and the facebook page and website of the European Endowment for Democracy