The issue of political patronage is a problem in many countries, so I do not think that on its own this will undermine the election process, although it will weaken it, Dennis Sammut, Director of LINKS, says in his interview to ArmInfo.
When speaking of the public confidence in Armenia, the British expert says: "Of course public confidence is crucial. There is throughout the South Caucasus widespread cynicism by the public towards elections because they have seen in front of their eyes on many occasions massive election fraud. The issue of "election bribes" is more complicated. In many cases they are illegal so they should not happen".
In addition, Sammut says that organisations making an assessment of the elections will have to take a holistic approach and look at all the aspects. "The key issues are: Did all the parties have the chance to campaign freely and without intimidation? Was there a level playing field? Was the Election administered fairly? Did the people have the chance to vote freely in a secret ballot without intimidation? Were only people who were supposed to vote allowed to vote? And finally did the counting process proceed normally and transparently? There may be other issues like for example the use of administrative resources that impact some of these questions, but an overall assessment will have to take everything into consideration", he says.
