ARMENIA PROMISE TO REFORM ELECTORAL SYSTEM BY END OF 2010

Tert.am
18:57 ~U 18.03.10

According to a timetable submitted to the Monitoring Committee of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Armenian
authorities have taken on the responsibility of making reforms to
the country’s electoral system by the end of this year in order to
make it possible to be prepared for the next elections from 2011.

Davit Harutyunyan, head of the PACE Armenian delegation, has told Radio
Liberty that the first steps will have already been taken before the
PACE April session.

Referring to other reforms included in the timetable, Harutyunyan
said: "The concept of appealing police actions and those of other law
enforcement bodies, in general, has already been presented to the
Council of Europe for discussion, and we hope we will soon, within
a month, receive an expert opinion on the concept, after which will
start the legislative work itself. I’m referring to the new law on
freedom to gather [for rallies] but we will present the timetable of
this law before the [PACE] April session."

PACE co-rapporteur Georges Colombier has has also asked Armenian
officials for a timetable on reforms to the judicial system.

The proposals on the reforms made by the Armenian National Congress and
Heritage Party faction were not discussed yesterday, though according
to Harutyunyan, they will further be considered in the framework of
the presented proposals.

It’s expected that after the first steps on the declared reforms
have been taken, supposing in April, PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia
Georges Colombier and John Prescott will visit Armenian and discuss
the "roadmap" to implementing those reforms.