Lawmaker: Control of electoral lists is left on observers and proxies (video)
The National Assembly today continued the debate on the draft bill on amending the Electoral Code and the law on ID Cards initiated by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). During the discussion, Tigran Urikhanyan, a lawmaker of the Prosperous Armenia Party of Armenia (BHK), announced that the legislature had debated many times a bill presented by him and every time the initiative was thwarted by the ruling majority. “But this bill was included into the agenda after a short debate. Now we are trying to receive answers to a number of questions,” he said. The MP wondered how the electoral lists will be managed in accordance to one’s place of residence, if the ID cards do not show where the voter lives. “It is a well-known fact that new people or unknown dwellers appear on the electoral register. I belong to the group of people who will control the process of referendum and its legitimacy. Now my friends and I want to know who we can exercise control according to addresses,” he said. The main rapporteur, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, HHK lawmaker Hovhannes Sahakyan, first thanked Mr Urikhanyan for submitting a similar bill in the past, saying the difference between the two initiatives is that the lawmaker offers to participate in the referendum with ID cards after the installation of the corresponding electronic equipment which will ensure full control of the process. “Besides great finances, the bill also implies teaching of some 18 000 members of polling stations which will create additional difficulties. Each citizen should be registered somewhere in order to be included in the electoral register. The Central Election Commission is to post the lists at polling stations forty days before the referendum. As you know the electoral lists are already available on the CEC’s website. Tigran Urkhanyan said he did not ask the question to hear applause but to hear a solution. “I could understand from you speech that citizens can participate in the referendum presenting their ID cards which do not show their place of residence and, hence, cannot be compared with the addresses on the electoral lists. Thus, the control of the lists is left on observers and proxies,” he said.
