The 2nd session of the Committee on the Amendments to the Electoral Code under the Prime Minister was held yesterday, during which questions relative to the rules of voting, exluding the double voting and clearing the election lists were discussed and a decision was made to stipulate a 100% proportional voting system also to lower the threshold for passing. Deputy Prime Minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, who is also the coordinator of the Committee said that both the ranking system and the 100% proportional system with closed list. After the session the Deputy PM mentioned that the ultimate decision was the outcome of the analysis of favorable and unfavorable circumstances in the Republic of Armenia. This, according to Ararat Mirzoyan, is an impetus to the parties to form successful lists. The proportional system will also give an opportunity of politicizing the elections and solving the issue of the quota of women, inasmuch as the quota of women was not stipulated clearly by the ranking system. Mirzoyan said that they could also discuss the issue of increasing the quota: “The usage of various signs play a primary role in election fraud, pens and the usage of different pens encompassed. At least this is what the public was told. For example, in remote villages people insisted that tiny cameras had been attached to the pens. 100% proportional system allows to exclude the usage of pens, separate ballots will be in place for each party and they will be put in envelopes. By this the high level of risk will diminish. It was the result of these and other arguments that the Committee decided to choose that voting system.”
Daniel Ioannisyan added that Armenia had a homogeneous society and we were not divided ethnically, religiously, etc., as compared to a lot of other countries. He said that the MPs did not voice the issues of their separate districts during the voting process, failing to insist that this or that decision might be unfavorable to their district, all of them acted according to the common principles of their party.
Let us remind you that the Republicans are not included in this Committee, they have refused to take part in it. Ararat Mirzoyan emphasized that they were deciding the position of the Government, taking into consideration the inclusion of state bodies, civil society and experts in the Committee, as well as the consultations with the forces beyond the Parliament. He later added that as soon as they finished this process, they would discuss it with parliamentary forces.
Asked what was lowering of the threshold for passing into the Parliament conditioned by and how it would change the quality of the elections, Ararat Mirzoyan replied: “We discussed different options, starting from the demolition of the required minimum number of votes until the preservation and we came to this solution. We have taken into account the continual proposals of the Venice Commission and other factors as well.”
Ioannisyan said they had researched among the most democratic states to reveal what was the average required percentage of votes and found out it was 3.9%. They had studied what changes the corrupt countries having changed the required percentage for passing into the parliament had undergone. It came out in the countries where the minimum threshold was dropped from 1 to 2 percent, positive changes took place. Mirzoyan said that the objective of lowering the threshold was to avoid of the limitations for the parties having smaller resources and to provide greater representation in the future Parliament.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
