Majoritarian, or proportional representation, that is the question. The topic of the main debate between the opposition and the ruling parties can be defined that way. Therefore, Aravot.am got comments from Karen Avagyan, the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP, and Stepan Safaryan, the leader of the Heritage faction, in this regard.
Stepan Safaryan answered, “I am still for proportional representation. Today 1/3 of the National Assembly supports no political force, but we know that the overwhelming majority of them votes in favor of the ruling party, but the establishment are not responsible for their actions, which in most cases can be assessed as criminal. We want the political forces to say that either the criminals are theirs or they have nothing to do in the National Assembly. 41 electoral districts in the Republic of Armenia make the electoral corruption systemic and massive. Therefore, this electoral system should be eliminated.”
Karen Avagyan said, in response to the same question, “Let me answer this question as a doctor. I understand quite well that in 2007 Raffi Hovhannisian’s loss in Talin as a majoritarian representation candidate caused some inhibitions and he started to hate that electoral system. Bringing inhibitions into politics is a dangerous thing, since we don’t know what other inhibitions Raffi Hovhannisian had. Perhaps he had problems with the kindergarten teacher and he will propose to close kindergartens or perhaps he had problems with the guys in the neighborhood, because of which he will propose to destroy playgrounds. Majoritarian representation is common in many countries, it is provided for by our law and talks on that are late.”
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
