ARMENIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY LEADER TO VOTE AGAINST ELECTION CODE DESPITE OF "POSITIVE ELEMENTS"

Panorama.am
14:46 31/10/06

Shavarsh Kocharyan, leader of Armenian Democratic Party and a deputy
of National Assembly, said the Election Code is a necessary but not
sufficient condition for free and fair elections. He said in 1991
we had the fairest elections under the conditions of the worst
election code. He also said the present Election Code "has many
positive elements," but he is going to vote "against" because of
its shortcomings.

Kocharyan believes that by keeping to majoritarian vote we render our
support to authoritarian system. He said countries like Azerbaijan
prefer majoritarian systems. The deputy also sees problems in formation
of committees. Kocharyan supports 50/50 rate, i.e., if the chairman
is pro-government representative, the secretary and the deputy must
be from opposition.

Kocharyan thinks using envelopes is a good idea but he says the law
does not provide all the details of its use. He said the law does not
require not to make notes on the envelopes, so the voters can make
notes and the envelope will not be considered invalid.