TIGRAN TOROSIAN: ESTABLISHMENT OF POLITICAL FIELD IS MORE IMPORTANT
FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS THAN ELECTORAL CODE REFORMS
YEREVAN, October 20 (Noyan Tapan). A a result of reforms of the
Electoral Code the number of proportional places will increase in the
parliament. Tigran Torosian, RA NA Vice-Speaker, said during his
October 20 interview to journalists that the issue of correlation of
the number of places by proportional and majoritarian systems was
discussed during the sitting of the coalition council, in which RA
President also participated. Not specifying the envisaged number of
places by the proportional system, Torosian said that the reform
should be consonant with the previous change made in the Electoral
Code. He expressed anxiety that abrupt steps in this direction may
have unpredictable consequences.
According to NA Vice-Speaker, in case of 100% proportional system the
businessmen who display willingness to become an MP and at present
spend large sums for being elected by the majoritarian system will
have no alternative and will strive for appearing on party lists and
we have already had such a precedent.
In Tigran Torosian’s opinion, the Electoral Code has faults and no one
doubts that they should be eliminated. Some of these faults contribute
to electoral violations, in particular, problems connected with
electoral rolls and empowered persons. But as the speaker emphasized,
reforms of the Electoral Code aren’t enough for holding elections
corresponding to international criteria. In Torosian’s affirmation,
it’s necessary that all political forces participating in the
elections should be able to show political will. According to NA
Vice-Speaker, all political forces committed violations during the
previous elections and the number of violations committed by the
Republican Party doesn’t exceed the number of those committed by other
parties. About 300 application-complaints submitted by the
Prosecutor’s Office equally concern all political forces.
Answering Noyan Tapan’s question about assuming political
responsibility for electoral violations Torosian mentioned that the
political forces don’t make decisions about committing falsifications
and they are committed by certain groups of people. At the same time
he agreed that the violations and punishments envisaged for them are
disproportionate. According to Tigran Torosian, the next state
elections will have an exceptional importance for Armenia as the fact
if the country will take the way of European development or will
appear among the backward countries depends on free and fair
elections. According to him, establishment of the political field of
Armenia is much more important for free and fair elections than
adoption of 100% majoritarian system.
