Statement
Taking into account the global COVID-19 pandemic, the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) decided to cancel its short-term election observation mission to the general elections of the Artsakh Republic (Nagorno Karabakh), to be held on 31 March, 2020.
The EAFJD had planned to deploy a team of ten highly experienced independent short-term observers from various European countries, to observe the parliamentary and presidential elections in Artsakh to be held this upcoming Tuesday. However, considering the state of emergency declared in the Republic of Armenia, the general lockdown in many European countries and the ban of non-essential travel from and to the European Union as well as the rapidly growing number of cases of Coronavirus, we consider this mission potentially dangerous for the people of Artsakh and the participants of the mission.
The Central Electoral Committee of the Republic of Artsakh has announced that the elections are maintained, as there are no confirmed Coronavirus cases in Artsakh as of today. The EAFJD will consider the possibilities of deploying short-term elections observation missions (STO) to the electoral processes in Artsakh after the end of the current sanitary crisis.
In the past, the EAFJD has successfully deployed a number of STO-missions, including the mission for the referendum on the constitution of the Republic of Artsakh in February 2017 and the Nagorno Karabakh Parliamentary elections in May 2015.
European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy
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