– The draft legislation of adopting 100 percent proportional electoral system elaborated by the party Heritage and ARF will be discussed in the next week’s NA hearing session. Most apparently the legislation will not be adopted, as the ruling authorities will vote against that. In that case what is the purpose of all discussions?
– According to the NA statute, we will acknowledge that legislation as snap one. It is our turn to acknowledge any legislation as a snap one, and we will use our right in discussions of this legislation. There were many issues that the authorities refused to accept, but that does not mean that we have to give up our actions, and not to undertake anything in that line. The draft legislation will be discussed in the National Assembly, and already clear standpoints will be better identified.
– Prosperous Armenia joined you to arrange parliamentary hearings of that legislation. Will this faction vote for your legislation after the NA hearings?
– Each faction has the right to decide about its standpoint about the given legislation. They have mentioned for several times that whenever the issue becomes legislation and a subject for hearings, they will express their standpoint regarding that.
– Don’t you think they have used your suggestion in expressing their disagreement with ARP in line with other political issues, as that time the relationships were a little tough between ARP and the Prosperous Armenia?
– This is an issue that needs to be commented by them only. We have proposed the legislation, and the parliamentary factions will express their standpoints in their presentations and discussions.
– And why do you think that 100 percent proportional system will solve the matter of electoral violations? Don’t you think that the problem here is not merely the matter of electoral system or the legislation acceptability, but the matter how those two will be carried out? In any type of legislation it is possible to conduct both fair and fraud elections in any type of legislation or electoral system?
– I certainly agree that our proposal is not going to be the sole solution to all the problems, and all the election problems will not be solved. However, this legislation enables a civil electoral struggle. In the RA the single-mandate constituency has turned into a system with real feudal appointments, where the single-mandate candidate gets a chance to employ electoral bribe and carry out illegal actions, provided he has the support of the authorities. This makes the candidate a deputy and provides majority of votes for his political party. Thus, the authorities become a majority, whereas this problem would be solved once proportional system is completely adopted. Single-mandate constituency somehow becomes anti-political function, as distributing money, road asphalting and roof reconstruction are illegal actions. In the result of this an anti-political element enters the parliament. The authorities provide a majority and the parliament provides anti-political portion. This is absolutely unacceptable, as the parliament is number one pulpit of our country, and all the political debates should take place right there. 100 percent proportional electoral system will also contribute to the development of political culture and institutions in Armenia. Thus the National Assembly will be able to perform its functions identified by the Constitutions, so that it may also oppose to other branches of government. At present the strongest power of authorities is inclined to the president’s office and the executive body. In other case the political center will shift to parliament like in many developed countries. I have to mention also that the ARP has also had a provision of passing to the proportional electoral system.
– ARP representatives opposed to the changes in the electoral system on the eve of elections. Besides, they were saying it was practically impossible to perform any change even they wished to do. And all those suggestions would have been presented earlier.
– It is not really so. There is no technical problem or a matter of timeliness. Once this legislation is approved by the ARP fraction and verified by the president, is can be applied in a short time, as it does not imply any procedures. We can also call for a joint session and adopt the legislation totally. The only thing is required that the ARP agrees on this electoral system. As for the proposal, I myself have made a similar proposal in 2007-2009. In 2010 together with the ARF I have acted with a proposal. We have made this proposal even in the new electoral code, which was not accepted. I want to recall to Serzh Sargsyan’s New Year speech, when he mentioned that we are expecting fatal elections, and that he needs support in that context. Right now we are acting with a support to the president and suggest determining this type of electoral system aimed to conduct fair elections and to develop justice. This proposal is unique as it reached a consensus in the political field. Only the ARP has not joined to that proposal.
– That legislation will not be adopted next week. What is going to be the next step against the electoral fraud made by the opposition? Will the parliamentary and out-parliamentary parties develop a joint struggle, even if they have misunderstandings between each other?
– The discussions around this bill brought us all to the platform, which created an opportunity for us to conduct joint actions for the sake of the public oversight of elections. During the hearings the speaker of parliament Samvel Nikoyan also made a statement about the possibility of establishing a joint public oversight structure. In any case, I think that the platform of this collaboration is created. Especially the opposition political parties will be able to create a platform to cooperate with each other on the E-day in the precincts by trying to fight violations.
– The elections of Hrazdan mayor have showed that the authorities affect the voters either by intimidation of bribery prior to their arrival to the precincts to vote. As a result on the election day the process was pretty fair and peaceful. It is assumed that the same model will be applied during the upcoming national elections too. In this case the opposition has an issue with both the government and the voters. Thus, after the presidential elections 2008 the opposition wasn’t able to bring the people to the consciousness level in order not to accept bribes and not be afraid of administrative pressure. In that case, what can the opposition should do during 2-3 months in order to deter the society from such an influence?
– I agree that the technologies of Hrazdan elections were an experiment. Indeed there is the need of work with citizens. In the meantime let me mention that the parliamentary elections will proceed in a completely different psychological environment, under different political influence even if they project the experience of Hrazdan. And if during the parliamentary elections the opposition succeeds in getting the votes it got during Hrazdan elections, it is already a big thing. The opposition didn’t have a big loss of votes. If the opposition succeeds during the parliamentary elections to work the way they did in Hrazdan then we will have oversight in the precincts. And this is very important because we will be able to have certain control over the election cycle.
– What is the status of your discussions with the Free Democrats party? Are those for the purpose of making an alliance, joint list or cooperation only?
– Often there are meetings with the Free Democrats and there will be more meetings in the future. I think that such meetings are very useful because in case of participation in elections either in an alliance or in any other format there are many big problems and there must be agreement upon many of such problems. I cannot say what our decision will be, but for now I see a big opportunity for cooperation with the Free Democrats. It is not clear yet whether that cooperation will result in a joint list or these powers will participate in elections separately.
– Two or three weeks have remained to finish the arrangements with the list. If you have not discussed that issue yet, how will you be able to do that in this short time?
– Issues with the lists are decided later in the Heritage party, so there is enough time.
– The list is something that can separate a party and be a reason for conflicts. For example, during the mayoral election 2008 the Heritage and ANC failed to find common interests and cooperate because of the list.
– I assure that there will be no problems with it. There has not been such problem in the Heritage and I hope there will not be this time either. If even there is a joint list, there will be no problem with that either.