Parliamentary Elections, 30 May 1999

Upon an invitation from Armenia's Foreign Ministry, ODIHR deployed an election observation mission on 19 April to observe the parliamentary elections on 30 May.

Headed by Nikolai Vulchanov of Bulgaria, the mission included eight core staff members and 12 long-term observers who remained in the country until 4 June. A follow-up team of two long-term observers remained in Armenia until 22 June and monitored the repeat elections in one constituency on 20 June.

Some 168 short-term observers were deployed for election day, including 24 parliamentarians from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

According to the mission's final report: "The 30 May 1999 parliamentary elections in Armenia generally represented a step towards compliance with OSCE Commitments. While improvements were made to the electoral framework and the political environment, serious issues still remain to be addressed and further improvements are necessary. Compliance with a number of recommendations previously issued by the ODIHR and acceptance by election authorities of technical assistance provided by the international community indicated a political willingness to improve previous electoral practices. However, a number of key electoral improvements were not implemented."