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We are not citizens of Armenia and are not eligible to vote, yet we can freely act as election observers, Armenian-Canadian actress and producer Arsinee Khanjian told reporters at a press conference on Friday.

To remind, Khanjyan along with number of Diaspora celebrities, soloist of “System of a Down” group Serj Tankian, Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan among them, have set up an initiative called “Justice in Armenia” which is set to implement observation mission during Armenia’s April 2 parliamentary elections.

“We decided the time has come to launch this initiative to allow Armenians living in the homeland and in Diaspora to fully exercise their rights,” Khanjyan said.

Soloist of “System of a Down” group Serj Tankian, on his part, expressed happiness for being able to join the observation mission.  “Our decision was confimred after the Sasna Tsrer incident [2016 July storm of a police station by an armed group]. We view our observation mission during elections as a way of fights against injustices in Armenia,” Tankian said.

Tankian also thanked the volunteers who had arrived from Diaspora to join the initiative of monitoring the elections.
Director Atom Egoyan, meanwhile, said democracy is like a muscle, one need to exercise it in order to maintain it. “We are not in Armenia to preserve the votes to be casted on Sunday. We are here for the future, we are observers of the prosperity and renaissance of the future Armenia,” Egoyan said.