YEREVAN. – The amendments to the Electoral Code specify that the National Assembly (NA) elections shall be conducted with regular proportional representation and fixed electoral lists; that is, not with the “rating” election system. 

Daniel Ioannisyan, secretary of the Electoral Legislation Reform Commission adjunct to the Prime Minister of Armenia, stated about the aforementioned at Tuesday’s public debates on the Electoral Code reform draft.

“The passage [to NA] threshold will drop by one per cent, each, and will be set at 4 percent for [political] parties, whereas 6 percent for blocs,” he added, in particular. “It’s specified that the next parliament will be formed from at least four political forces [instead of the current three].”

In Ioannisyan’s words, there have been many amendments already in connection with maintaining legitimacy, and, in particular, more severe penalties shall be imposed for electoral fraud.

He added that the English version of the Electoral Code reform draft has been sent to both the Council of Europe Venice Commission, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR).

“These two bodies are experienced,” Daniel Ioannisyan said, in particular. “And their viewpoints are very important.”