VIDEO: If 'My Step' adopts the new electoral code, all agreements we had will be nullified, Marukyan

A political consensus has been formed among parliamentary forces, and they have agreed that the Prime Minister will resign in mid-April, and early parliamentary elections will be held on June 20, starting from that date. This was stated today, March 22, by Edmond Marukyan, the leader of the 'Bright Armenia' faction, during a live broadcast on his Facebook page.

According to him, these elections are necessary to find a way out of the current political crisis. "The fact that negotiations regarding the elections have started has significantly reduced the tension in the country and continues to decrease, as political entities are preparing for the upcoming elections," he said.

Addressing the topic of changes to the electoral code, Marukyan stated that the rules of the game cannot be changed in the middle of the game. "The code is completely raw, and we propose that the raw code should not be adopted and that we should not go to elections based on it. If we change the rules of the game, the crisis that we want to solve disappears. Secondly, the new code proposes an entirely proportional electoral system. This means that party leaders will appoint MPs. That is, they will decide who will be on their electoral lists. Therefore, the people will go to vote for the party leader, but MPs will be elected whom the people do not choose. We proposed that there should be elections with open proportional lists, which was not accepted. According to their proposed version, 90 percent of the MPs will be from Yerevan, while our proposal allows for representatives from all regions. Under the current code, representatives can also be from all areas," Marukyan added.

He further emphasized that under the proposed code, the people choose the list, but who is elected is decided within the party. "You no longer have any influence over that list. That is not democracy. You are told, 'Choose the list, and we will decide who will be the MP; your job is not involved.' The people should choose their representatives, not have them appointed by party leaders. If our proposed version is accepted, the elections will be delayed. Therefore, we must refrain from altering the Electoral Code." The leader of the LHK also stressed that if 'My Step' brings and adopts the new code, it will nullify all agreements we have made. "This will also cast doubt on the legitimacy of the upcoming elections. Thus, we are creating a new crisis," he concluded.