Strasbourg Diary

A1+

STRASBOURG DIARY
[12:47 pm] 06 October, 2006

REJECTED LAW WILL BE ADOPTED

NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan who is also the head of the Armenian
delegation to the PACE met Per Sogren, the head of the Ago group. The
representatives of the Venice Commission also participated in the
meeting. Mr. Torosyan represented the course of honoring commitments
since the last visit of the reporters. The members of the Ago group
were especially interested in the ten laws they had passed on to
the Parliament.

Mr. Torosyan mentioned that six of them have been adopted, and one of
them has been discussed and rejected due to its numerous shortcomings,
but the Parliament will adopt it till the end of the year.

The amendments to the Electoral Code were also
represented. Mr. Torosyan briefed the members of the Ago group on
the main approaches of the draft. The representatives of the Venice
Commission were content with several solutions in the draft Electoral
Code.

Head of the Ago group Per Sogren voiced hope that the developments
will contribute to the organization of 2007 Parliamentary elections
in compliance with the internationally accepted standards.

THE VISIT WILL PROBABLY BE POSTPONED

During the meeting of Tigran Torosyan, President of the ad-hoc
committee on Karabakh affairs adjunct to the CE Lord Russell Johnston
and head of the Azeri delegation to the PACE Samad Seidov, Mr. Johnston
mentioned that the period of time meant for the visit of the members
of the committee to the region is not very favorable. He said it
would be better to postpone the visit till the next year.

Before that, during the January sitting, discussions will be held in
Strasbourg in which the members of the Armenian and Azeri delegations
will participate.