The members of the PACE observation mission hope to see perfect elections in Armenia on May 6.

The members of the PACE observation mission, who are in Armenia for a short-term observation on April 11-12, hope to see perfect elections in Armenia on May 6.

During today's press conference, head of the delegation, Baroness Emma Nickolson (UK) mentioned that during the visit she had noticed "a very serious and active political debate" in Armenia. Talking about the qualities of the observation mission, she assured that the 28-member PACE mission includes competent and experienced people who know the international standards for democratic elections and who will reflect upon the positive developments and the flaws during the elections.

Upon the journalists' request, the Baroness touched upon the several violations in the voters' lists and informed that she had had a nearly 40-minute meeting with the Head of the Department of Passports and Visas of the RA Police.

"We can record that this institution is actively working on making its activities as transparent as possible," mentioned the Baroness.

To make the elections more transparent, the Baroness also attached importance to the role of the nearly 16,000 local observers and the observers from the CIS countries and advised "treating the European observers' conclusion more seriously".

"In addition to that, if the opposition brings concrete facts of electoral violations, the opposition will be responsible for proceeding with them. The opposition can't make the international observers totally responsible. This is first and foremost the responsibility of the nation," mentioned the head of the PACE observation mission.

When asked how this year's PACE observation mission would take into account the precedent in 2008 when the mission's speedy positive conclusion on the presidential elections "tightened the belt" of the authorities, which responded to the opposition's peaceful demonstrations with violence and murders a couple of days later, Nickolson mentioned:

"The observers rush to express their views after the elections and return to their homes. Sometimes that opinion is very speedy. The international observers' positive conclusions on the elections are usually boring for journalists, who sometimes try to see blood, thunder and human body parts," said the Baroness, laughingly.

The Baroness mentioned the importance of the foreign diplomatic missions accredited to Armenia in terms of ensuring transparency. German Ambassador to Armenia Hans Jokhen-Schmidt, who was also present at the meeting, referred to the Baroness's observation and noted that the diplomatic missions weren't competent to implement the observation missions during the elections. "Of course, we will follow up on the process, but implementing an observation mission is not our job. Here there could be a clash of interests," mentioned Ambassador Schmidt and refused to comment on the ideas that the head of the PACE observation mission had expressed.