NOMINATION OF NA DEPUTY CANDIDATES TO START ON FEBRUARY 26

YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. By RA President’s January 29 decree,
regular National Assembly elections have been scheduled for May 12.
As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed by Central Electoral
Commission Secretary Hamlet Abrahamian, in the coming days the
Commission will affirm the schedule of main events of preparation and
holding of elections, as well as will adopt a number of draft
decisions relating to electoral processes.

According to the Electoral Code, documents of nominating candidates by
NA proportional and majoritarian electoral systems are introduced to
the Central Electoral Commission and district electoral commissions no
sooner than 75 days and no later than 70 days before and for
registration no later than 45 days before. So, it is already
predictable that nomination of candidates will start on February 26
and will last until March 3.

In difference to the National Assembly of current convocation,
majoritarian mandates will decrease by 15 and proportional mandates
will increase by 15 in the next parliament, amounting to 41 and 90,
respectively.

According to the 2005 amendments to the Electoral Code, the demand of
introducing official bulletins with signatures of electors supporting
nomination of candidates by majoritarian and proportional systems to
commissions was recognized invalid. For registration of candidates
they should introduce certificates on being RA citizens over the past
five years and permanently living in the country for five years, as
well as receipts of electoral pawn in the amount of 2500-fold (2.5 mln
drams) minimum salary for a party or bloc of parties nominated by the
proportional system and 100-fold minimum salary (100 000 drams) for
candidates nominated by the majoritarian system.

The age qualification established for the candidates preserves: a
citizen who has turned 25 and has the right to vote can be elected as
a deputy.

In difference to 2003 when women were to make at least 5% of electoral
roll introduced by a party or a bloc by the proportional system, this
time they are to make at least 15%. Besides, at least every 10th
person of electoral roll should be a woman.