During an open discussion organized by the “Politlogos” political scientists’ union, the Chairman of the ARF-D Bureau, Hrant Margaryan said that the authorities must understand that there is no disaster in a change of power through elections. “I believe that one has to want to achieve a change through elections, and elections are far more…
In its continuous efforts to disseminate information about social democracy in Armenia, the Hrayr Maroukhian Foundation, in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, has begun translating the FES Academy of Social Democracy’s “Economics and Social Democracy,” (Simon Vaut et al.). Last year the Hrayr Maroukhian Foundation, in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, launched this series of translations with…
A standing committee of the Armenian parliament held on Wednesday, February 15, hearings on a major voting reform which the country’s leading opposition forces say would make the upcoming parliamentary elections more democratic. The committee on legal affairs agreed to discuss the idea of holding the elections only on a party-list basis despite its rejection…
During today’s press briefings at the Parliament, the Head of ARF-D Parliamentary Faction Vahan Hovhannesyan said that the adoption of the law “On Private Guard Activity” was very important and reminded that it was the ARF-D that first introduced it around 2000 concerned about the unacceptable accumulation of these services around the rich elite. ARF-D’s…
According to www.7or.am, the government refused today, ARF-D and Heritage (Zharangutyun) parties’ proposition about discussing the passing to a 100% proportional electoral system. The First Deputy Justice Minister Gourgen Mouradyan commenting on the two oppositional parties’ initiative said that holding such discussions now would be practically pointless because those discussions require a long time. In…
“If the main political forces agree in principle to pass to a 100% proportional electoral system why not do that now? Why is it that ARP (Armenia’s Republican Party) doesn’t take that step now? The single-constituency system has served on one hand as a tool for the authorities to reproduce themselves and on the other…
Leaders of the two opposition parties represented in Armenia’s parliament accused on Monday a top representative of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) of blatant pro-government bias after meeting him to discuss the political situation in the country. Senior parliamentarians from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Heritage (Zharangutyun) party said that John Prescott,…
Today, the Parliamentary Factions of the Heritage (Zharangutyun) and Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun parties took a joint initiative and circulated a proposition-package on amending the ‘Electoral Code’, the ‘National Assembly Regulations’, ‘The Law on the Constitutional Court’ aiming to pass from the current mixed election system to a 100% proportional system. The proposition is supported and…
Armenia’s leading opposition groups voiced skepticism on Wednesday over the formation of a new anti-corruption state body charged with verifying income declarations of senior state officials. The state Commission on the Ethics of High-Ranking Officials consists of five members appointed by President Serzh Sargsyan upon the recommendation of Armenia’s prime minister, parliament speaker, prosecutor-general and…
ARF-D Member of Parliament Artsvik Minasyan said to www.mardik.am that the existence of both a proportional and a single-seat constituency lists of parliamentary candidates violates the Constitution of Armenia which states clearly that the MPs have equal rights and act under the same mandate. Minasyan added that there are no constitutional provisions for neither proportional…
