Citizen Observer Initiative is a coalition of Armenian NGOs which was established in 2013 by Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC), Europe in Law Association (ELA), Journalists’ Club “Asparez” (JCA), and the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCAV) to jointly oversee Yerevan City Council elections. Given the effective cooperation and the significance of public oversight of the electoral processes, the initiative continued its activities. In 2016, the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office left the coalition. Its core composition now comprised of TIAC, ELA, and JCA, Citizen Observer Initiative continued its operation, and it also has cooperated with other organizations in different stages of its activity.

So far, Citizen Observer Initiative carried out election observation missions monitoring Yerevan City Council elections in 2013, local government elections of 100 communities in 2013-2017, the Constitutional referendum in 2015, and parliamentary elections in 2017.

We, the undersigned organizations, state that the oversight of parliamentary elections in April 2017 was the last joint action carried out by Citizen Observer Initiative, and therefore all further actions, statements, and comments made by it do not reflect the joint activity and standpoint of the members constituting Citizen Observer initiative.

The Yerevan City Council elections in 2017 were monitored only by Europe in Law Association (ELA), which arbitrarily used the name and symbols of Citizen Observer, and as a result, the public was misinformed and disoriented. Unfortunately, this occurred without receiving the consent of Citizen Observer Initiative partners TIAC and JCA, though ELA was duly notified of the unacceptability of such conduct. Therefore, we publicly declare that the name and symbols of Citizen Observer Initiative cannot be used by any of the founders without the consent of all member organizations.

Transparency International Anticorruption Center
Journalists’ Club “Asparez”