Georgian analyst says West ignored violations in Armenian elections

While Western circles harshly criticize even minor shortcomings related to elections in other countries, their silence over violations recorded during the latest parliamentary elections in Armenia raises various questions.

Georgian analyst, professor and regional secretary of the United Neutral Georgia party Levan Nikoleishvili said this in a statement to Report's Georgian bureau.

According to him, the latest elections in Armenia once again revealed the different approaches taken by various foreign centers of influence toward political processes.

"The parliamentary elections in Armenia once again exposed the West's double standards. These elections also demonstrated another interesting reality. Forces with various levers of influence tried to implement their agenda as they wished. In this regard, how democratic the elections were was not always the main issue for them. The main goal was to bring the political forces they supported to power. For this reason, electoral violations and possible manipulations were often ignored," he said.

The analyst noted that similar approaches had previously been observed in Moldova and Romania. In his opinion, support by certain Western circles for specific political forces is linked to their geopolitical agenda.

"There is another problem here. Some bureaucratic circles in the European Union do not sufficiently take into account the history, traditions, culture and public mindset of South Caucasus countries. However, the region has its own specific features, and political processes here are closely linked to national values.

Attempts to influence the internal processes of countries in the region without taking into account public opinion and national interests may produce results at certain stages, but they will not be successful in the long term. There is no war in the region now, and countries are thinking about mutual cooperation and economic development. In such circumstances, attempts at external influence cannot produce lasting results," the expert said.