Civil society calls for civilized pre-electoral campaign ahead of snap elections
Joint statement by Armenian CSOs, including EPDE members Transparency International Anticorruption Center Armenia and Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – Vanadzor We, the undersigned representatives of civil society, are severely concerned about the hate speech and calls for violence, which are widespread in Armenia’s political landscape, and tend to be rising ahead of the snap parliamentary election. Problematic and […]
Early Parliamentary Elections Must Only Be Held Under Reformed Electoral Code
Joint statement by Armenian CSOs, including EPDE members Transparency International Anticorruption Center Armenia and Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – Vanadzor The need to amend the Electoral Code, which leaves wide loopholes for abuse by whoever is in power, was articulated as a public demand during the 2018 revolution and was restated after the 2018 snap election. The promise […]
New law on political parties introduces stricter regulation on party financing
On January 18, 2021, amendments to Armenia’s Law on Political Parties were finally signed by President Armen Sarkissian. The bill makes changes to the way political parties will be regulated and incorporates recommendations by OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe. This report follows up on EPDE’s A Long Process Though part […]
Policy Alert #6 – New law on political parties introduces stricter regulation on party financing
On 29 December 2020, amendments to Armenia’s Law on Political Parties were passed with widespread consensus following a period of extreme polarization which provide for a substantial increase in public financing of political parties, while increasing the transparency of party donations, prohibiting corporate donations, and decreasing the upper limit for individual donations. The amendments include […]
Policy Alert #5 – Armenia’s Stable Majority Constitutional Provisions Under Review
Armenian Constitution voted for in 2015. Image source: vestnikkavkaza.net Bonus seats and the specter of a non-competitive “second round” election are viewed as threats to the democratic process by civil society groups and reform-minded MPs. In order to fully remove them from the constitution, guarantees for a “stable majority” need to be replaced with […]
Policy Alert #5 – Armenia’s Stable Majority Constitutional Provisions Under Review
The 2015 Constitution promised that Armenia would move toward a fully proportional parliamentary model. However, a number of other provisions serve to distort the translation of votes to seats in practice. They include provisions for various bonus seats and the exclusion of political parties from campaigning if no government can be formed and a “second […]
Armenia explores alternative to referendum on Constitutional Court
Armenia was supposed to hold a referendum on April 5, 2020, on whether to replace 7 of its 9 Constitutional Court judges. The referendum was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now seen as too great a risk to public health to go ahead. Instead of terminating the 7 judges immediately, the government […]
Policy Alert # 4 – Armenia explores alternative to referendum on Constitutional Court
Image source: massispost.com Armenia was supposed to hold a referendum on April 5, 2020, on whether to replace 7 of its 9 Constitutional Court judges. The referendum was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now seen as too great a risk to public health to go ahead. An alternative approach has been […]
Armenia to expand proportional representation to municipal elections with tri-partisan bill
MPs from all three parliamentary factions have sponsored a bill that seeks to change how municipal councils and mayors are elected. Specifically, mayors in the largest cities and towns will no longer be directly elected but chosen by city councils, who will also be given the power to remove them mid-term. The closed party list […]
Policy Alert # 3 – Armenia to expand proportional representation to municipal elections with tri-partisan bill
Image source: emerging-europe.com MPs from all three parliamentary factions (My Step, Prosperous Armenia, and Bright Armenia) have sponsored Bill G-567 to make changes to how municipal councils and mayors are elected. Specifically, mayors in the largest cities and towns will no longer be directly-elected but chosen by city councils, who will also be given […]