YEREVAN. - Parliamentary factions of Armenia’s ARF Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) and Prosperous Armenia (PAP) parties launched discussions on the amendments to the Electoral Code as early as in late 2015. Although the new draft Code is not yet ready, representatives of ARF-D and PAP held meetings with the members of the Commission on Constitutional Amendments Vardan Poghosyan and Hrayr Tovmasyan.   

No details are yet available with this regard. “We had certain discussions in out faction, but no debates on that subject have yet been held in the parliament. We told our experts to prepare their proposals on this issue, which we will discuss within the faction,” PAP leader Naira Zohrabyan said.

Interestingly, members of the Commission on Constitutional Amendments have met only with the representatives of these two factions.  Others aren’t even aware of the launch of such discussions. This may be due to the fact that the ruling coalition can be created with these forces, and for this very reason several issues are ascertained with the possible partners before working out the draft amendments to the Code.

Naira Zohrabyan didn’t refute the fact of the meeting with Vardan Poghosyan and Hrayr Tovmasyan. According to her, only one meeting took place, but they didn’t even make any proposals since they weren’t ready yet.

Referring to the issue of the rating version of voter list, which can substantially move the proportional system closer to the majority one, Zohrabyan said they haven’t reached that issue yet. “We haven’t yet reached that stage. That will be a more controversial provision, since the proportional system of voting is more risky than the majority one. [But] Our specialists are working in that direction as well. We’ll try to find the best solution, the best version during the parliamentary hearings,” she said.