This is not one of the ten Commandments - says Naira Zohrabyan

If members of the Venice Commission were in the Armenian parliament and heard the discussions on Heritage party’s initiative to amend the Electoral Code, everything would seem surrealistic to them, Secretary of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) Naira Zohrabyan said on December 1. “They could wonder what connection there is between the majoritarian or proportional representation system and the conduct of free and transparent election.  Surely, there is no connection but not in the case of Armenia. But the shift from the majoritarian system to a proportional system is not one of the ten Commandments, and none of us is romantic,” she said. She does not believe the results of the poll which suggests that people are against switching to switching to the 100-percent proportional electoral system. “Armenian citizens only want to know where their votes went.  After all this we come to the conclusion that to conduct free, fair and transparent elections we need to demonstrate political will, which lacks in Armenia.” She says the country should put an end to the feudalization of the majoritarian voting system. “The parliamentary majority is speaking about the need of dialogue. If those are not mere statements but a practical proposal, let us consider all the possibilities,” she said.