PARLIAMENT APPROVES BILL ON ELECTION CODE CHANGES IN THE FIRST READING

ArmenPress
Oct 11 2004

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS: By a vote of 95 and 2 votes against
the Armenian parliament approved today in the first reading a bill
on making changes to the Election Law, however, the lawmakers failed
to reach agreement on how the National Assembly should be elected
in the future. Under the existing law, 75 members of the National
Assembly are chosen on the party list basis, while the remaining 56
parliament seats are contested in single-mandate constituencies. The
lawmakers agreed today to overcome the moot point before putting the
bill on the second reading.

The bill was developed by the three members of the ruling
coalition. According to parliament leadership, some 44 changes were
incorporated in it. The bill is said to have improved the procedure
of compiling voter lists, making it transparent and clear, apart from
improving the process of vote calculation and tabulation and giving
more authorities to proxies and observers.

The Republican Party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and
Orinats Yerkir, the three parliamentary parties, making the majority,
are advocating for more seats contested under the proportional
representation system, saying it would help resist vote manipulation,
while the People’s Deputy, a group of 17 independent lawmakers,
elected in the constituencies, opposes any increase in the number of
party list seats.

The opposition minority did not take part in the voting today
continuing its already eight-month long boycott of the parliament’s
work.