“These elections have been a step ahead, as compared to the local elections conducted in September,” stated the Congress delegation head Nigel Mermagen.

According to him, they are mainly satisfied with the organization of the elections, although they have registered lapses that, however, cannot affect the legitimacy of the elections. Those lapses will be included in the final report of the congress delegation. As Nigel Mermagen said, the final report would be published during the PACE fall session.

“Organization of elections mainly corresponds to the European criteria. But democracy is not just about organizing elections but also electoral culture. Elections must be fair and transparent,” he announced.

The delegation has been to about 200 polling stations, talked with members of commission, proxies and observers. When they have noticed something, they have returned to that polling station. Their wok has ended after midnight.

Nigel Mermagen explained they had limited resources and they could not manage to register all the infringements and be at all the polling stations.

When a journalist stated that CE observers were indifferent to violation reports at polling stations, Nigel Mermagen responded, “I am sorry to hear your opinion about us being prejudiced. We are very open to different opinions, and that will be the approach that we will apply while forming our final report.”

“Now I will return to Britain where elections will happen soon. And I will be the last man to claim that they are perfect,” he concluded.