YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) opposes the Electoral Code amendments bill that has been submitted to parliament by the government. The bill is currently under debates at the special session of parliament.

HHK released a statement outlining a number of conclusions why it is opposing the bill.

The statement mentions that a working group comprising representatives of the four factions of parliament was set up which recapped its recommendations and submitted to the government.

“However, a number of important recommendations that were submitted in agreement of all forces of parliament were totally ignored by the government,” the HHK statement said.

HHK also cited the fact that factions had only two working days for getting acquainted with the final version of the bill – at the same time, the initial version was available online for two weeks ahead, but Republicans claim that the final version is significantly different that the initial one.  

The party also mentions that the draft Electoral Code was submitted to the Venice Commission hastily, therefore according to the HHK “the Venice commission didn’t have the chance for official discussions and conclusions.”

“Generally, by agreeing to the idea of early elections of parliament, we have numerously opposed the haste with which the election is attempted to be held until yearend 2018,” HHK said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan