RA political parties held a discussion of combating electoral frauds to which participated experts and politicians from different parties.

The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) and the US National Democratic Institute held today a discussion devoted to methods of combating electoral frauds in Armeia.

The event had brought together experts and politicians from different parties. Addressing the meeting, political analyst Ruben Mehrabyan said politicians in Armenia are often engaged in either falsifying election results or protecting their votes instead of conducting a real political campaign. "The electoral Code is amended after each election to rule out frauds but either those amendments are not fundamental or the falsifiers are cunning enough to adapt falsifications to the new Code," he said.

Artak Zakaryan of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) said no efforts should be spared to make the upcoming parliamentary election the best polls in Armenia since gaining independence. "We already have developing political parties, a more experienced society and a public exercising control over electoral processes," he said.

Disagreeing with the politician, a member of the opposition Free Democrats Party, Armen Arakelyan, said the TV channels have already started advertising political forces. "We often hear TV channels say that the RPA organizes charity concerts or the Prosperous Armenia party offers free medical services. If they really have a political will, they must demonstrate it from now," he added. As possible tools to rule out frauds, the politician proposed adopting internationally recognized principles, such as using fingerprint devices to identify voters or deciding which party is to count a specific group's votes.