There Are Things That Should Not Be Included in the Electoral Code: Tigran Mukuchyan

This week, the National Assembly adopted a bill to amend the Electoral Code, thereby abandoning the majoritarian electoral system and transitioning to a closed-list proportional system. Hraparak.am reports that concurrently, the government has also prepared a broader and more comprehensive bill for amendments to the Electoral Code, which has been sent to the Venice Commission for expert opinion. However, this draft contains some rather problematic provisions, to which the Central Electoral Commission has raised objections and proposals.

Has it been accepted or not? The website sought to clarify this with the Chairman of the CEC, Tigran Mukuchyan.

“Yes, such a bill exists. It is a much larger project and concerns many institutions enshrined in the Electoral Code. This draft still needs to go through discussion phases, and the CEC has also presented proposals regarding it,” Mukuchyan stated.

- What are the main issues you have highlighted, and to which provisions do your proposals and objections relate?

- Various issues are addressed because this is a project related to different stages of the electoral process. In general, we must consider that changes to electoral legislation always involve two groups of issues. The first group deals with expressing a political approach regarding this or that institution. For example, what the electoral procedure should be is, of course, not the function of the CEC. But once this is implemented in the law, afterward, there arise issues to ensure that these provisions have sufficient clarity and fully regulate all relationships so that they do not create problems in practical application.

- According to preliminary information, the CEC has raised objections concerning the article on the misuse of administrative resources, the implementation of social programs, and other articles.

- The issue is the following: it is not about stating that the CEC objects to this or that institution but rather presenting separate proposals regarding how it envisions the regulation of these issues associated with those institutions. Regarding certain norms where, for example, there are legal regulations that, in our opinion, are not complete or do not fully regulate the legal relationships, or there are things that, in our opinion, should not even be included in the Electoral Code, objections have also been presented regarding them.

- Have those objections been accepted by them?

- They are in the discussion phase. Naturally, we have had the opportunity to have one or two working meetings, but we have not even managed to fully discuss everything.

- If it is still in the discussion phase, how has it been sent to the Venice Commission?

- You know, the issue is as follows: now proposals have been submitted, there is a draft ready, and it has also been presented for international expert opinion.

- In other words, have you seen in what form the final draft sent to the Venice Commission was submitted?

- I believe it is precisely that draft regarding which we also formulated our proposals.

- I am asking exactly whether your proposals and objections were included in the final version sent to Venice, or were your proposals ignored?

- No, there is no talk of ignoring because working discussions have taken place based on those proposals, and I believe there will be similar discussions in the upcoming days.

- Mr. Mukuchyan, let me clarify my question again. Were your proposals and objections included in the draft sent for international expert opinion?

- I would find it difficult to provide a complete answer to that question regarding the extent to which they have been implemented, but in any case, those proposals have been made by us. Even as a result of separate working discussions, there were points that the drafters accepted. But whether they have been already implemented in the draft or are still in the implementation phase, I would find it hard to say.

- Regarding deadlines, if the Venice Commission gives a positive opinion and the NA also accepts the new code, will you be able to implement those changes before the preliminary announcement of elections on June 20?

- At this stage, I would find it difficult to make any comment regarding that, but it should be noted that any change, regardless of its significance and the content burden, must be implemented and executed with the understanding that it can be fully realized while considering all the peculiarities of the electoral process so that participants in the electoral process are adequately informed about those norms.

- And what if you cannot manage to do it?

- Well, if they are unable to, it is natural that we will organize the processes according to the regulations of the current Electoral Code.