Electoral Code Ready: Key Changes Introduced

The package of draft amendments to the Constitutional Law on the Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia has been officially introduced by the ‘My Step’ faction of the National Assembly. This package also includes changes to the laws on Political Parties and Local Self-Government.

The ‘Zhoghovurd’ newspaper has learned that the ruling faction reached a final agreement on the package of draft laws on November 4 of this year, and after the last corrections, it has been officially submitted for circulation.

Let us present the most important proposed changes by the ruling party:

Firstly, the draft suggests the establishment of a simple proportional electoral system based on pre-fixed (closed) party lists, eliminating territorial lists, meaning the rating electoral system will cease to exist. At the same time, through the platform created on the website of the Central Electoral Commission, parties are given the opportunity to conduct pre-voting for their electoral lists.

It is noteworthy that the early parliamentary elections of 2018 were conducted using a rating system.

The electoral deposit amount for parties has been reduced to 7.5 million AMD, while for party alliances, the electoral deposit is set to double at 15 million AMD. The electoral threshold for parties has also been lowered to 4 percent (down from 5 percent).

Different approaches are established for party alliances. Specifically, the electoral threshold is 8 percent for an alliance consisting of two parties, 9 percent for three parties, and 10 percent for an alliance of four or more parties. It's important to mention that according to the current regulations, the pass threshold for alliances was 8 percent in all cases.

The rules regarding the distribution of additional mandates for the majority have also changed; specifically, it is stipulated that if a party receives 50 percent of the total distributed mandates, that party will receive a minimum number of additional mandates so that the percentage of mandates held by that party is at least 52 percent.

The draft also removes the limitation on the number of parties forming coalitions and significantly extends the duration of the period designated for forming a coalition.

In essence, the authorities have legally prepared a favorable framework for upcoming elections.

This was reported by the ‘Zhoghovurd’ newspaper.