Voter Apathy and Cynicism in Armenia
RFE/RL reports that a visiting delegation from the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) are alarmed by what they see as widespread voter apathy and cynicism to elections in Armenia. This comes as no surprise to most of us who can see disillusionment among most Armenians towards the Government, opposition and civil society.
Visiting parliamentarians from the Council of Europe expressed concern at what they see as a widespread voter apathy reigning in the run-up to Armenia’s parliamentary elections as they ended a three-day visit to Yerevan on Friday.
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“The delegation was concerned over its overall impression of a lack of popular interest in the election process by the electorate,” read the PACE statement. “Such attitudes of apathy, or even cynicism, are not conducive to the development of democracy in Armenia.”
Interestingly, the matter of rejection of the inking of voter’s fingers is also mentioned in the report. According to RFE/RL, the PACE group were disappointed that it was not accepted into the amended electoral code. Ironically, as highlighted in two interviews I conducted with It’s Your Choice and IFES, however, one of the main opponents of the suggested measure was the latter.
According to IYC, confirmed by IFES, the widespread availability of a cheap solution which could remove the ink was given as the reason for rejection. Talking of IFES, however, there’s a detailed outline of their work in Armenia in modernizing the Voter Registry.
Comment by Onnik — April 14, 2007 @ 2:35 am
From RFE/RL’s Press Review:
Comment by Onnik — April 14, 2007 @ 3:55 am