The ruling party changes the law to appoint members to the Electoral Commission

The newspaper "Zhoghovurd" reports that the political authority has amended the Electoral Code before forming a new composition of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) and simplified the requirements for CEC membership. According to the information from "Zhoghovurd," this step by the ruling "Civil Contract" party, executed through its parliamentarians Heiknaz Tigranyan and Arthur Hovhannisyan, with a package of draft amendments to the Constitutional Law on the Electoral Code, was aimed at securing the newly elected members of the CEC.

For example, whereas previously a legal education was mandatory for CEC membership, now it is sufficient to have only higher education. Party interests have been prioritized over state interests. If the law had not been changed, members of the CEC Anna Grigoryan and Arusyak Terchanyan would not have been able to become CEC members, as they lack legal education, and their biographical data do not specify anything about this.

Moreover, CEC Chairman Vahagn Hovakimyan has only managed to obtain a diploma from the long-defunct Mkhitar Gosh University in 2021, qualifying him as a lawyer. Aside from the legal qualification, other requirements have also been excluded, such as having at least 2 years of professional experience in the last 5 years, a scientific degree in the field of law, and various work experience stipulations related to state or local self-government bodies.

Under the new amendments, only the requirements for "not engaging in public political activities" and "having higher education" remain intact. Even if we disregard all the aforementioned remaining provisions, the mere stipulation of "not engaging in public political activities" is sufficient to record that the CEC chairman has come directly from the National Assembly, the country's number one political platform.

It is also worth mentioning that he is one of the founders of the "Civil Contract" party. Therefore, it arouses significant interest to question what logic led the parliamentary group of the "Civil Contract" to nominate politician Hovakimyan. It seems that the current authorities have not been able to adapt the amendments of the Electoral Code skillfully and perfectly to their needs, which surely speaks to the "professionalism" of the ruling party members.

For more details, see today’s edition of the newspaper.