Against All Party launches campaign, proposes scratch vote reform

A newly formed Armenian political party, “Against All,” launched its campaign for the June 7 parliamentary elections in Yerevan, presenting proposals for major electoral reforms, including a “vote against all” option and lowering the electoral threshold.

The party presented its election manifesto at an event in downtown Yerevan.

Party member Hovsep Ghazaryan told reporters that the party’s main policy proposals include changing the electoral system, abolishing the “stable majority” rule in parliamentary elections, and lowering the electoral threshold to 1 percent.

Most notably, as the party’s name implies, it proposes adding an “against all” option on the ballot.

In their view, voters should have the opportunity to cast a ballot even if they do not support any of the candidates running for office, and the best way to ensure this is by including a “vote against all” option on the ballot.

Representatives of the “Against All” party have already stated that the party is self-dissolving, and that if it comes to power, it will implement its program within 100 days and then resign to trigger new elections. The party’s prime ministerial candidate is human rights advocate Nina Karapetyants, who, if elected, would lead a 100-day government and commit to staying out of politics for 10 years afterward.

At the launch of the campaign, party representatives also carried out a so-called “mud-throwing” protest, throwing mud at a poster featuring the logos of all political forces, saying it symbolized the “toxic and dirty atmosphere” in the political arena.