Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

Freedom of information Center published outcomes of the court monitoring “Electoral Disputes Resolution - Parliamentary Elections 2007” in cooperation with the American Bar Association.

The aim of this report was to identify the nature of prevailing electoral disputes and the type of alleged violations without engaging in a detailed analysis of the facts in every case and the arguments put forward by the respective parties. 86 civil cases out of 188 were satisfied, 1 civil case was partially satisfied, and the remaining 102 civil claims were rejected.  Criminal charges were brought in all 7 criminal cases.  The Constitutional Court rejected all claims.

The Freedom of Information Center also closely examined the procedural matters of dispute settlement. In particular, it focused on principles of guaranteeing publicity, access to judicial documents, adherence to procedures of court proceedings, as well as ensuring equality of parties. It is notable that for Parliamentary Elections 2007 the principle of publicity of the court examination was fulfilled partially, since not all of the courts posted notification-announcements on the venue and time of the sessions, moreover the mass media did cover all the cases and put a particular emphasis mainly on disputes with political implications.

The courts mostly adhered to procedural rules during the court hearings and generally ensured the principle of equality of parties. Full text of the Monitoring Report can be found here.