Presidential Election, 19 February and 5 March 2003

ODIHR's election observation mission stayed in Armenia to monitor the second round of the 2003 presidential election.

After none of the candidates secured enough votes for an outright victory on 19 February, based on the preliminary results announced by the Central Election Commission on 20 February, a second round run-off between the incumbent president, Robert Kocharian, and Stepan Demirchian, who came second in the first round, is scheduled for 5 March.

In its preliminary statement following the first round, ODIHR concluded that "voting ... was generally calm and well-administered, but the counting process was flawed and the long-term election process fell short of international standards in several key respects".

Mission mandate

The mission is headed by Peter Eicher (United States) and consists of 10 election experts based in the Yerevan headquarters. It will assess the election process against international commitments for democratic elections agreed to by all OSCE participating States, as well as national legislation.

This includes the legislative framework, administrative preparations, the electoral campaign and the general political environment and campaign coverage in the media.

The election observation mission and the OSCE Office in Yerevan operate separately under their specific mandates.
 
Long-term observation

In order to monitor the administrative preparations for the elections and the election campaign at the local level, the mission has deployed 16 long-term observers to eight regional centres throughout Armenia.

Election day

For the second-round election day, the mission will be reinforced by a number of short-term observers, requested from OSCE participating States, who will arrive in Armenia shortly before election day and be deployed in teams of two across the country.

The short-term observers will monitor the opening of polling stations, the voting, the counting of ballots and the tabulation of results. A number of parliamentarians from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will take part in the mission as short-term observers.

Preliminary findings and conclusions

Based on the observers' findings, a preliminary statement on the conduct of the elections will be presented to the public at a press conference in Yerevan on Thursday, 6 March. Approximately one month after completion of the electoral process, a final report will be issued by ODIHR.

Previous elections

ODIHR observed the parliamentary elections in 1999, presidential elections in 1998 and 1996 and, jointly with the UN, the parliamentary elections in 1995.