HOLDING EXTRAORDINARY PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ` NOT AN AND IN ITSELF
S. HAROUTYUNYAN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on April 26, 2008
Armenia

MP VICTOR DALLAKYAN is also against the idea of neutralizing the
post-electoral tension through extra-ordinary parliamentary elections,
but his considerations are different.

`During the hour of parliamentary announcements, I clearly introduced
my approaches, and I still stick to the opinion that it is first of all
necessary to set up an interim committee with the purpose of
investigating the March 1-2 events, and I have already proposed a
relevant legal initiative. It should be mentioned that the PACE
proposals are actually in harmony with that approach. This is the first
thing to say.

The second thing is that it is necessary to implement political
reforms; in particular, to set up a political council under the
President, with the involvement of the representatives of the
pro-Government, parliamentary and extra-parliamentary parties.

The third step is to set up a public chamber. In this connection, I
submitted a draft legislation consisting of more than 30 articles in
May 2007. I consider this one of the most important preconditions for
the accomplishment of civil society.

The fourth step is to release the individuals who did not participate
in the acts of violence but just expressed their political views. That
is, to grant them pardon.

The next step is to introduce relevant changes in the Electoral Code
and make a transition to a 100 percent proportional system. At the same
time, it is necessary to change the procedure of forming electoral
commissions, envisaging mechanisms which enable the parliamentary and
extra-parliamentary factions to be represented in the commissions on
consensual bases.

As regards holding extra-ordinary elections, I don’t think this is an
end in itself. This may be the last accord of the chain of actions
conditioned by political reforms. And to dissolve the National Assembly
now, a few months after the elections, and holding extraordinary
elections would not be serious, in my opinion.’

`The political forces supporting Ter-Petrosyan which did participate in
the parliamentary elections or dispersed the votes of their proponents
by running for election on their own, demand that the parliament be
dissolved and a new parliament be elected. Isn’t this nonsense from the
point of view of political culture?’

`My approach towards holding extraordinary elections in not conditioned
by a single individual or the appearance of a single political force. I
repeat, this may be one of the steps towards implementing serious
political reforms.

I have already said that it is necessary to amend the Electoral Code
and why not, introduce changes to the Constitution, employ the system
of electing the regional governors, etc

Only after the implementation of so many steps, should extra-ordinary
parliamentary elections be appointed. That’s to say, the issue should
be viewed on a strategic plane: not from the standpoint of solving
situational problems but from the standpoint of perspective solutions.’