The Armenian National Congress Issues a Statement

The Armenian National Congress has issued a statement.

“Today, on March 18, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that he had reached an agreement with the 'Prosperous Armenia' and 'Bright Armenia' parties regarding the holding of snap parliamentary elections on June 20. From the statements made by representatives of the government and parliamentary opposition, it can be inferred that the mentioned political forces have come to an agreement to conduct the snap parliamentary elections under the current Electoral Code, maintaining the ‘rating’ electoral system. Such a warning was also issued on March 15 in a joint statement by around three dozen civil society organizations.

Meanwhile, on March 9, 2021, the 'My Step' faction of the National Assembly officially presented a draft amendment to the Electoral Code. Despite certain shortcomings, the bill addresses the issue of conducting elections on an ideological, political basis, keeping the political system largely free from the systemic possibilities for electoral fraud and bribery, and the use of administrative resources provided by the existing Electoral Code. The transition to a simple proportional electoral system and the dismantling of the so-called ‘rating’ system is of crucial importance, as it effectively replaced ideological struggle in elections with competition among financial backers and criminal authorities. Armenian political forces have systematically pursued this goal for about 15 years, and a broad public consensus had formed around it, excluding the Republican Party.

Reiterating our consistent position that the 'majoritarian-rating' electoral system imposed on our society by the former authorities through mass electoral fraud has been one of the main reasons for political corruption and the emergence of crises in state and political systems, serving as a crucial tool for ensuring the reproduction of power, we categorically reject the decision to conduct elections under this law. We are convinced that the proposed solution to the current political crisis, without changing the Electoral Code, will merely serve the conjunctural interests of parliamentary parties and provoke new political crises. Therefore, such a development of events will be nothing but a conspiratorial deal woven behind the back of society. The 'Civil Contract', 'Prosperous Armenia', and 'Bright Armenia' parties will bear direct responsibility for the failure of the program aimed at restoring the Armenian political system.

Thus, we hope that parliamentary political forces will be guided not by situational considerations, but by remaining loyal to their previously stated positions, demonstrating the necessary consistency and principled stance that Armenia urgently needs at this moment, and will quickly adopt a new Electoral Code, which will allow to overcome the existing political crisis through fair elections,” the statement reads.