Both civil activity and citizens' activity are significant in electoral processes: Armen Grigoryan

Project coordinator at “Transparency International” anti-corruption center, representative of the "Citizen Observer" initiative Armen Grigoryan.

For the first time in the history of the Republic of Armenia, the record number of 3600 observers is going to monitor the election process. “That is the observers will be in 80 per cent of polling stations of Armenia, which, however, includes 96-97% of voters. This is a huge number. Our past experience showed that the presence of observers in polling stations has a great impact,” Armen Grigoryan notes.

The speaker emphasizes the presence of 310 Diaspora Armenian observers as well as Diaspora’s role as a civil society representative. “This is a very important factor in strengthening ties between Diaspora and Armenia on the civil society level,” he stresses.

The coordinator of the electoral processes accepts that the presence of observers does not completely solve the issue but definitely has a positive effect. “We want free, fair and transparent elections, but it is clear that this is the ideal goal,” Armen Grigoryan says.

After all, what the presence of observers changes in the electoral process, besides recording and responding? The answers to the questions in the program “Paradigm.”