A special report released this week by Policy Forum Armenia, a Washington-based political think tank, has concluded that Armenia’s 2012 Parliamentary elections had only the appearance of being “free and fair” while disguising common fraud that has plagued the election process throughout Armenia’s 21 years of independence.

A summary, released by PFA, says the report:

“. . . provides an overview of political-economic and legislative developments in the period preceding the 2012 election and summarizes the reactions of key stakeholders—the opposition parties, foreign observers, and local civil society groups—to the election outcome. It conducts a range of statistical tests to provide evidence of election fraud and to point out the main beneficiary of these corrupt practices. The findings suggest that the election fraud in Armenia during the 2012 Parliamentary Election was not gone but instead transformed into less obvious and observable forms, while remaining largely outcome-neutral, a phenomenon that is becoming common in the region as well as other countries with authoritarian leaderships. Finally, the Report offers recommendations to the opposition, civil society, foreign observers, and the Diaspora.”

Click here to find the entire report: www.pf-armenia.org