OEK leader Artur Baghdasaryan talking about electoral bribes.

Statement of leader of "Country of Law" Party (OEK) Artur Baghdasaryan:

"On behalf of the "Country of Law" Party (OEK), I congratulate all the political parties that made it to parliament and our compatriots that voted for them. I would also like to thank the mass media outlets for providing comprehensive coverage of the political parties' campaigns, which is one of the most important achievements in the 2012 state elections.

For the first time, the elections in Armenia were held without stuffings and beatings, and the votes were mainly counted transparently and under the supervision of the political parties.

However, the distribution of electoral bribes did have an impact on the elections. I had spoken out about that several times during the campaign, even though people took the money voluntarily and voted voluntarily not for ideas or competitive programs, but for money.

I regret to see that many people who had registered as members of the "Country of Law" Party didn't pay heed to the calls that my partisans and I made and didn't resist the temptation of taking the electoral bribes. This serves as grounds for us to undertake structural reforms within our party and make the procedure of party membership stricter.

As leader of the OEK, I would like to express my special gratitude to the members and supporters of OEK who voted for us. Thanks to them, OEK gained another opportunity to have its faction in the National Assembly for the fourth time, even though many tried to do everything possible to make sure that we weren't represented in parliament through black PR, anti-propaganda and all other types of inacceptable acts.

I regret that our party doesn't have the large number of votes that would allow us to realize all the programs in our political platform, but those votes will definitely help us move forward to implement the activities that had remained incomplete.

Attaching importance to the evaluations of the international community, I thank everyone for overcoming this important stage for our country and wish all Armenians success."