US State Department comments on elections held in Armenia

The US authorities look forward to working with the new government of Armenia to grow their bilateral relationship and cooperation, US Department Spokesperson Ned Price said commenting on the early parliamentary elections in Armenia, Report informs.

“We urge all parties to respect the rule of law and democratic principles and look forward to working with the new Government to grow our bilateral relationship and cooperation,” reads a written statement by Ned Price released by the State Department. “The United States is committed to strengthening our partnership with Armenia based on shared democratic values. We commend Armenia for the progress it has made with respect to reforms and anti-corruption efforts and encourage Armenia to continue along this path, in line with the aspirations of the Armenian people, as expressed in the spring of 2018.”

“The United States congratulates the people of Armenia on their June 20 parliamentary elections. We welcome the overall positive assessment by the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission. We are pleased that ODIHR’s preliminary conclusions noted voters’ human rights and fundamental freedoms were generally respected, contestants were able to campaign freely, and that ODIHR assessed election-day vote counting as positive. We share ODIHR’s concern regarding intense polarization and inflammatory rhetoric among key contestants.”