Armen Martirosyan, Vice President of “Heritage” party, refers to the government decree to accommodate the law on “Political Parties” to the RA Constitution. Note that with the help of this legislative initiative and proposed modifications, the issues related to the formation and registration of political parties will be facilitated and simplified, legal guarantees will be provided to exclude the unreasonable refusal of the state registration of the parties, the institute of suspension will obtain a complex legal arrangement, the negative consequences caused as a result of suspension and prohibition of the activities of the political partied will be clarified, equal and non-discriminatory conditions will be created for unimpeded implementation of the parties’ activities.
“Institutionally, the changes are important but there are two preconditions for the formation of political parties, which do not exist in Armenia. The remaining steps without these two preconditions would carry just an imitation nature and nothing more. The first precondition is holding free and fair elections in Armenia, and secondly, the parties should be normally funded by the state. In other words, it should not be the case that a political party like “Heritage” receives approximately eight thousand dollars per year and it is a trivial amount for the activities of a normal party. There is a strong need for finances, we naturally are not fed from the capital of an oligarchy nor are our citizens able to finance a political party.
Everything remains within the framework of absolute initiative and volunteerism. When I say that the political party should be adequately financed by the state, I mean 2.5 million dollars per year, I am not talking about big numbers. These two key preconditions must be met for the internal party democracy will work, and to some sense, the parties will be consolidated, and the parties will try to obtain key role.”
Arpine SIMONYAN
