GAREGIN AZARIAN: ELECTORAL CODE IS IN NEED OF AMENDMENTS
Noyan Tapan
March 19, 2008
YEREVAN, MARCH 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Central Electoral Commission
(CEC) intends to put forward a proposal on amendments in the Electoral
Code but finds it expedient to make amendments only after the elections
to local government bodies to be held in Armenia in the autumn, the
CEC chairman Geregin Azarian said at the March 18 sitting of the RA
National Assembly.
In his opinion, first of all the order of formation of electoral
commissions should be revised because the mechanism of appointing
members of electoral commissions by political forces has not proven
to be correct. "Some members of commissions rather act as empowered
persons of the parties that have appointed them so the whole work of a
commission is done by 3-5 members while the rest are busy providing
information to their parties," the CEC chairman said. Besides,
according to him, there is a need to simplify the order of summarizing
the results of a vote, particularly, by reviewing the necessity of
counting envelopes and knobs of voting papers and registering their
number. As regards the necessity of legislative regulation of surveys
conducted at polling stations, G. Azarian expressed an opinion that
organizations conducting such surveys should be registered at the
CEC in advance.