Wednesday,
Armenian PM Calls For Changes To Electoral System Ahead Of Snap Polls
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in parliament (archive photo)
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has spoken in favor of introducing
“simple changes” in the country’s election-related laws before holding early
parliamentary elections in June.
During a question-and-answer session in parliament on Wednesday the head of the
Armenian government said that the primary change should concern the system of
representation under which the next parliament will be elected.
According to the current laws, candidates are elected to parliament both on
party lists and in individual races. The pro-Pashinian majority faction in
parliament, My Step, suggests that the current system be replaced with an
all-proportional ballot.
Pashinian said that holding early elections under the current or new electoral
code was not part of the political agreement reached with the parliamentary
opposition.
“But during all our discussions I asked our colleagues, including in parliament,
about what they think about the voting system, in other words, whether they
think that the rating system should remain or should be scrapped. During our
discussions we registered that both the Prosperous Armenia party and the Bright
Armenia party leave this matter to the discretion of the parliamentary
majority,” Pashinian said.
“They [Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia] said they would not vote for the
changes because they don’t want to share political responsibility with us, but
they said that if we want to change it, they have no problem with it.”
The prime minister added that as a result of discussions with
extra-parliamentary parties and representatives of civil society as well as
taking into account the government’s earlier commitments My Step decided that
simple changes to the electoral code are needed.
“So, the elections will be held under an all-proportional system, i.e. without a
rating system,” Pashinian said.
In their recent public statements representatives of the Prosperous Armenia and
Bright Armenia parties said they did not find it advisable that changes be made
in the electoral code before the June 20 elections. They indicated, however,
that their political parties will participate in the elections in any case.
In this regard Pashinian joked that “political agreements have nuances and
sometimes the weather also influences them.” “But we will live up to our
commitments,” he concluded.
Armenian Parliament Triples Penalties For Defamation, Insults
Armenian Deputy Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian (in the center), the author of
the bill to raise the amount of damages ordered by courts in defamation and
insult cases
The Armenian parliament has adopted amendments to the Civil Code dramatically
raising the maximum penalties for defamation and insult offenses -- a move that
local media organizations said would “significantly damage” freedom of speech
and expression.
A total of 76 lawmakers on March 24 voted in the second and final reading in
favor of the bill setting the damages for defamation at up to 6 million drams
($11,400), and for insults at up to 3 million drams.
Forty members of the National Assembly voted against the changes authored by
Deputy Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian, with three abstentions.
Earlier, the damages for defamation and insult offenses were set at up to 2
million and 1 million drams, respectively.
The amendments passed in the first reading set higher punishments -- up to 10
million drams -- but they were lowered at the suggestion of the government of
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
A number of media organizations in Armenia have called on President Armen
Sarkisian not to sign the adopted bill into law, and send it to the
Constitutional Court to check its constitutionality.
“This change is extremely dangerous, especially if we take into account the
tendency of government officials, politicians, other public figures to perceive
even objective criticism as insult and slander and take the matter to court,”
the organizations said in a joint statement.
Armenia decriminalized defamation and insults in 2010 following an appeal of the
Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly to member states.
Also on March 24, the National Assembly adopted in the second and final reading
a package of amendments to the Law On Higher Education and Science.
Among other things, the amendments envisage that five out of nine members of
universities’ boards will be appointed by the Education Ministry, a proposal
that has raised concerns among universities that this may be a way for the
government to reduce their autonomy.
The package was passed by 79 votes to 36, with two abstentions.
Parliament Elects New Court Of Cassation Judge
• Artak Khulian
The Armenian Parliament building in Yerevan
The Armenian parliament on Wednesday elected Arsen Mkrtchian judge of the Civil
and Administrative Chamber of the Court of Cassation.
Out of 132 lawmakers, 102 took part in the secret ballot; four ballots were
declared invalid.
A total of 87 lawmakers voted for Mkrtchian, 11 for his rival Armen Haykiants.
The two candidates competed for the vacant position of a judge in the second
round of voting after receiving the highest number of votes in the first round
in which three candidates nominated by the Supreme Judicial Council participated.
On March 4, the Parliament failed to elect a new judge of the Court of Cassation
after the majority My Step boycotted the voting, thus expressing its attitude
towards the chairman of the Supreme Justice Council, Ruben Vardazarian, whom it
accused of making a political statement.
Vardazarian denied that his appeal to judges on November 15 contained any
political message.
Armenia To Have New Anti-Corruption Body
The Special Investigative Service is due to be abolished in Armenia after a new
anti-corruption body is formed later in 2021
The Armenian parliament on Wednesday approved a government-drafted bill to set
up a new anti-corruption body.
The vote on the draft legislation in the second and final reading went 80 to 38,
with 2 abstentions in its favor.
Under the bill, Armenia will have a new body called “Anti-Corruption Committee”
tasked with investigating corruption cases.
The body is expected to be formed and start operating in the second half of
2021, after which the currently operating Special Investigative Service (SIS)
will be abolished.
Presenting the bill on the Anti-Corruption Committee last December Armenia’s
Justice Ministry said that the new body will inherit most of its powers from
anti-corruption divisions of four Armenian law-enforcement agencies, including
the SIS, that have long prosecuted corruption-related crimes.
Mariam Galstian, a senior official at ministry, expressed confidence then that
the Anti-Corruption Committee will be in a much better position to combat
bribery and other corrupt practices.
Armenian Parliament Votes To End Martial Law
The Armenian parliament in session (archive photo)
The Armenian parliament on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to lift martial law
that was declared in the country at the beginning of a war with Azerbaijan in
Nagorno-Karabakh in late September.
A relevant bill presented by the opposition Prosperous Armenia and Bright
Armenia factions was supported by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s majority
alliance.
The vote taken in parliament went 118 to 1 in favor of the bill, with one
lawmaker abstaining from voting.
Pashinian signed a trilateral statement with the presidents of Azerbaijan and
Russia on November 9 to put an end to six-week hostilities on November 9, but
the martial law regime was maintained in Armenia that got hundreds of kilometers
of new borders with Azerbaijan as a result of the defeat suffered by Armenian
forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Yerevan refused to lift martial law even after Baku did so in December, but it
still removed some restrictions affecting freedom of speech and assembly as well
as international travel.
The two opposition factions in the Armenian parliament twice sought to have
martial law abolished, but their initiatives were thwarted by the parliament
majority represented by the Pashinian-led My Step bloc.
Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia, as well as extra-parliamentary parties
and groups have accused the government of maintaining martial law for political
reasons. In particular, they have claimed that the prime minister needs martial
law to prevent the opposition from impeaching him over mishandling the war. The
government has rejected the accusations as groundless.
This time around, however, My Step indicated that it would not oppose the
opposition’s move to abolish martial law.
It also explained it by the consensus achieved by the parliament’s majority and
minority factions about the need to hold early elections soon, which will
require abolishing martial law first.
Prime Minister Pashinian said last week that early parliamentary elections in
Armenia will be held on June 20.
Parliament Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan, who represents My Step, said on Tuesday that
it would be better if the government had initiated the bill, but still called on
the parliament majority to vote in favor of lifting martial law “out of
solidarity” with the opposition.
“This is at least a way to resolve the situation, restore political stability in
one way or another. Taking into account all these factors, I suggest granting
the initiative of the parliamentary opposition and voting for this bill to
abolish martial law perhaps five or seven days earlier than it would make
sense,” Mirzoyan said.
Under Armenia’s law, the parliament speaker signs and publishes a bill on
abolishing martial law immediately after its passage.
Armenia Sees Hospital Bed Shortage Amid ‘Third Wave’ Of Coronavirus
• Narine Ghalechian
A COVID-19 patient and a medic at the intensive care unit of Surp Grigor
Lusavorich Hospital in Yerevan, Armenia (archive photo)
Intensive care units are full and dozens of patients with coronavirus symptoms
have to wait for their turn to be hospitalized in Armenia as the South Caucasus
country is experiencing another surge in COVID-19 cases, according to healthcare
officials.
The Health Ministry said on March 23 that 24 people had died from COVID-19
within the previous 24 hours, while the number of new coronavirus cases was over
800.
This is the same or even higher rate that Armenia had in the fall when the
so-called second wave of the pandemic was observed globally.
According to official data, over 185,000 people have been infected with the
coronavirus in Armenia since the start of the pandemic, with nearly 3,400
related deaths.
The number of current active cases is nearly 12,000.
Last week, Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesian said that more hospital
beds were being deployed to cope with the latest surge in COVID-19 cases that
many local experts call a “third wave” of coronavirus infections.
According to the ministry, the number of hospitals treating COVID-19 patients
has been nearly doubled in recent days. Today a total of 19 hospitals take care
for COVID-19 patients in Yerevan, Gyumri, Martuni, Spitak and Kapan.
Knar Ghonian, head of the Health Ministry’s Medical Aid Policy Department, said
that currently almost all beds at intensive care units are occupied. “We have
730 [COVID-19] patients who are in serious condition and 165 patients who are in
critical condition today, with 60 of them breathing through oxygen devices,”
Ghonian said.
According to the official, “we are back to a situation when patients have to
wait for hospitalization at home.”
“Out of 270 patients needing hospitalization that were registered by our triage
center since yesterday, 22 still continued to wait for hospitalization as of
[March 23] morning. About 10 of them were at home, while others were in
hospitals not specialized in treating COVID-19 patients,” Ghonian added.
While healthcare experts voice concern about the current epidemiological
situation in Armenia, former Minister of Health Arsen Torosian, who currently
serves as chief of the prime minister’s staff, said earlier this week that the
government is unlikely to introduce another lockdown.
The latest wave of infections in Armenia came amid a weeks-long political crisis
during which supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and the opposition
have been holding large-scale rallies.
Torosian attended one of the recent pro-Pashinian rallies and was noticed not
wearing a face mask.
“If I didn’t wear a mask even for a while, I apologize for that. I should have
been in a mask. I accept the criticism and again call on everyone to wear masks
regardless of circumstances,” Torosian said, talking to RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service on Monday.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.