NDP leader Shavarsh Kocharian is in Strasbourg in these days by the PACE Liberal-Democrats’ invitation.
Shavarsh Kocharian affirmed the news that the PACE wanted to get remarks about current situation in Armenia from him before NA elections: “Yes. It is. And I have had a lot of meetings here and will have with the leaders of factions, leadership of the Assembly. Yes, everyone is interested in such remarks.”
We were interested in Shavarsh Kocharian’s remarks about PACE resolution on honoring commitments and obligations of Armenia adopted on January 23. Does he agree with Tigran Torosian, the head of our delegation in PACE “that resolution with its positive emphasis is unexampled for Armenia”? Shavarsh Kocharian said: “The resolution, of course, includes a lot of positive items. If I were the member of delegation, the resolution would be a little different; anyway, I’d try. In general, the resolution records the progress in the juridical sphere but also expresses the main anxiety connected with the elections. If we compare us with Azerbaijan, our condition is much better. But it seems to me we should get rid of that comparison earlier”.
We should note that three proposals of amendments have been made in the resolution of Armenia, and the authors of three of them are Tigran Torosian, Armen Roustamian, Hermine Naghdalian and Griror Margarian. Two proposals from three refer to the amendments of “Electoral Code”, which weren’t adopted yet during the co-reporters visit but now they have entered into force. And the third amendment is about to remove GRECO report’s not right allusion. The opposition representatives of our delegation haven’t made any proposal for amendments. In answer to the question what amendments would he propose, Shavarsh Kocharian said: “I’d make proposals about “Electoral Code” to provide for the balanced staff of electoral commissions and their leadership. There may be other proposals which the opposition part must make but it didn’t try.”
Stepan Demirchian made a speech on the resolution’s discussion in PACE and declared in particularly: “The best “Electoral Code” isn’t a cure when the political will is absent”. Shavarsh Kocharian said on the occasion of Mr. Demirchian’s speech: “The speech is only visual part. You can change nothing by the speech: the work is done before it. Certainly, the speech is also important”. He also added: “I think, the resolution is close enough to the reality that exists in Armenia. The main omission of the resolution is that the juridical part is emphasized more, what the constitutional amendments have given us, what laws have been changed etc. The Assembly understands very well that those amendments are very important to achieve. But on the other hand they mention that they need in time for time, this is the standpoint which I have always heard from different representatives of the Assembly.”