QUANTITY OF LAWMAKERS DOES NOT STAND FOR QUALITY
By Ara Martirosian

AZG Armenian Daily #158
06/09/2005

Decreasing Deputies to 100 Will Be Only Positive

According to the 63d article of the new draft constitution by the
coalitional government, the number of deputies will remain unchanged
— 131.

No one of Armenian lawmakers at the discussions of draft on
constitutional amendments — neither party members, nor non-parties —
touched on the issue of the number of deputies in the future National
Assembly. It is perhaps the most cogent evidence that all of them,
regardless the place they occupied in the political field, do not
want to reduce chances of appearing in the next parliament.

If the coalition’s proposal to maintain the number of 131 deputies
should somehow be considered natural, the opposition should have
had another approach. But as the discussions showed, none of them
suggested limiting the number of deputies in the parliament.

To put it mildly, President Robert Kocharian’s stance in this regard
is difficult to understand. He had previously highlighted this issue
as the greatest progress in the package of amendments. A rejected
draft constitution suggested 100 deputies instead of 131. Though
a parliament of 70-80 lawmakers is well enough for a country with
3 million population; the number of 100 can also be accepted with
some reservation.

Why 100 and not 131? Firstly, any number ending in 1 is
unacceptable. The proposal of 131 instead of 130 deputies came during
parliamentary discussions of 1995 from Grigory Avagian. Besides
being an acclaimed scientist, the latter was the father-in-law of
Babken Ararktsian, the then chairman of parliament. So the proposal
was accepted without serious discussions. Its logic was that an odd
number will not allow votes to split equally. Yet, it is clear that
the votes may be equal if equal numbers of deputies say “yes” and
“no” and one abstains.

100 seats in the parliament instead of 131 means first of all having
bigger electoral districts with minimum chances for the local well-offs
to enter the parliament and greater chances for the political parties
to put up their candidates as the bigger electoral districts will
demand bigger expenses and work. Big and populous districts contribute
to appearance of political unions, i.e. establishment of political
field. But, as a matter of fact, only party list elections contribute
to it.

Another argument for fewer deputies in the parliament is the fact
that more lawmakers do not work more effectively. With 131 seats in
the parliament today, the average attendance to the parliamentary
sessions is 5-10.

Not less solid an argument is the economy of state resources. The
point is not the unjustified high salary (250-300 thousand drams)
which deputies themselves do not reckon on, but the money that deputies
receive for diverse operations and deals from the state budget.

Cutting the number of deputies will get Armenian society’s acclaim. The
only hope that Armenian parliament will reduce the number of its
seats to 100 is on President Kocharian as the deputies will never
take such a decision themselves.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress