Since 1996, Armenian elections have never been held in conformity with democratic standards. That is, they have never been free, fair and transparent.

At his meeting with journalists on Thursday, Edgar Vardanian, an expert for the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS), cited OSCE/ODIHR monitoring mission’s final report on Armenian elections.

The results do not include the May 6 parliamentary elections.

The OSCE/ODIHR is a well-known monitoring organization and its reports serve as a basis for the Armenian expert.

With respect to trends in parliamentary and presidential elections, Vardanyan pointed out upward trends in the case of parliamentary elections and downward trends in the case of presidential elections.

The OSCE/ODIHR report contains clear comparisons. “If the report clearly indicates elections do not meet democratic standards, it means elections are not free and transparent. Although the elections are not considered democratic, there is a difference – they are better than elections that do not meet any standards at all,” the expert said.

The 1990 and 2003 elections were considered the worst by the OSCE/ODIHR . “Those elections were clearly classified as not meeting international standards. Serious problems were pointed out in 2004. The 2008 elections were the worst with respect to mass media coverage,” Vardanyan said.