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CHOOSING PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION WILL MEAN ARMENIA'S AUTHORITIES WANT TO HOLD DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS: MP
epress.am
01.20.2012
The administration's move to adopt or not adopt a 100% proportional
representation voting system ahead of the parliamentary elections
will decide, much like a detector, whether the authorities actually
want to hold democratic elections or not, said Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun or ARF-D) parliamentary faction member Armen
Rustamyan at a forum jointly organized by the ARF-D and Heritage Party
today, which was directed at discussing the issues and tasks related
to the two parties' joint legislative move to conduct the upcoming
parliamentary elections using a 100% proportional system.
Rustamyan stated that the parliamentary opposition is suggesting
this amendment be made for two reasons: first, because everyone
agrees that a proportional system will bring quality changes to the
elections, and second, adopting this change several months ahead of
the elections will not evoke any procedural obstacles. Note, the two
parties' proposal was also welcomed by extra-parliamentary opposition
groups the Armenian National Congress and the Free Democrats party.
The ARF-D MP pointed out that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
also agrees with this proposal, but it simply wants to delay the
change and make the amendment after the elections.
"The authorities have to clearly respond to the question, if they
agree in principle, why don't they want to implement the changes now?
MPs elected through a majority system till now have served as the
authorities' support pillar. This is a tool to push out the opposition
because the opposition, even if it gathers more votes through the
majority system, won't comprise the parliamentary majority," he said.
"MPs elected through the majority system, 71% of them have kept
silent in the National Assembly, 5% have occasionally made a peep,
and only 7% have been active," said ARF-D MP Artsvik Minasyan, in turn.
Prosperous Armenia MP Naira Zohrabyan, speaking at the forum, said
she is personally in favor of the parliamentary opposition's proposal
for proportional representation, but this is not her party's official
position as the Prosperous Armenia party hasn't discussed this matter
yet. Zohrabyan advised conducting a referendum in order to find out
the public's opinion on the matter.
epress.am
01.20.2012
The administration's move to adopt or not adopt a 100% proportional
representation voting system ahead of the parliamentary elections
will decide, much like a detector, whether the authorities actually
want to hold democratic elections or not, said Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun or ARF-D) parliamentary faction member Armen
Rustamyan at a forum jointly organized by the ARF-D and Heritage Party
today, which was directed at discussing the issues and tasks related
to the two parties' joint legislative move to conduct the upcoming
parliamentary elections using a 100% proportional system.
Rustamyan stated that the parliamentary opposition is suggesting
this amendment be made for two reasons: first, because everyone
agrees that a proportional system will bring quality changes to the
elections, and second, adopting this change several months ahead of
the elections will not evoke any procedural obstacles. Note, the two
parties' proposal was also welcomed by extra-parliamentary opposition
groups the Armenian National Congress and the Free Democrats party.
The ARF-D MP pointed out that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia
also agrees with this proposal, but it simply wants to delay the
change and make the amendment after the elections.
"The authorities have to clearly respond to the question, if they
agree in principle, why don't they want to implement the changes now?
MPs elected through a majority system till now have served as the
authorities' support pillar. This is a tool to push out the opposition
because the opposition, even if it gathers more votes through the
majority system, won't comprise the parliamentary majority," he said.
"MPs elected through the majority system, 71% of them have kept
silent in the National Assembly, 5% have occasionally made a peep,
and only 7% have been active," said ARF-D MP Artsvik Minasyan, in turn.
Prosperous Armenia MP Naira Zohrabyan, speaking at the forum, said
she is personally in favor of the parliamentary opposition's proposal
for proportional representation, but this is not her party's official
position as the Prosperous Armenia party hasn't discussed this matter
yet. Zohrabyan advised conducting a referendum in order to find out
the public's opinion on the matter.