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 # 2 – Changes to Armenia’s Political Party Regulation: toward more transparent party financing
Image source: gmfus.org On March 20, 2020, the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (Venice Commission, VC) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) published their Joint Opinion on Draft Amendments to the Legislation Concerning Political Parties, by request of Armenia’s National Assembly. The changes were largely welcomed with a […]
Changes to Armenia’s Political Party Regulation: toward more transparent party financing
Prior to the COVID-19 state of emergency disrupting ongoing reform processes and the scheduled constitutional referendum, a new law on political parties was supposed to be amended and passed by June 2020. Most of the new provisions were welcomed by international experts. The draft law includes provisions that would make state funding for parties contingent […]
Need for unbiased formation of PECs ahead of referendum
Before the approval of the composition of precinct electoral commissions of the constitutional referendum, ″Independent Observer″ Alliance received alarms stating that in the process of the examination of commission members, ″parallel examinations″ were conducted, during which credentials were also given to ″acquaintances″ of precinct electoral commission members. Later, certain persons willing to be included in […]
Consolidating Democratic Transition in Armenia
In March 2019, the Parliamentary factions started a dialogue on the priorities of the electoral reforms and established a timeline that included changes to various laws. HCAV have summarized what the expected amendments will be in this new policy alert. They furthermore call on the EU to strongly denounce the attacks against genuine civil society, […]
Policy Alert #1 – Consolidating Democratic Transition in Armenia
In March 2019, the Parliamentary factions started a dialogue on the priorities of the electoral reforms and established a timeline that included changes to the Law on Political Parties, electoral system for local government, Constitutional Amendments, and larger amendments to the Electoral Code focusing on the Parliamentary elections. Our members, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – […]
Final Report of the “Akanates” Observation Mission of the Snap Parliamentary Elections
The final report of the long-term and short-term “Akanates” (“Eyewitness”) Observation Mission of the 2018 Snap Parliamentary Elections in Armenia indicates that the elections were held in an atmosphere of a free, competitive and peaceful electoral contest, which essentially differed from the national elections held in previous years. Nevertheless, a few issues were identified during […]
Final Report of the “Akanates” Observation Mission of the Snap Parliamentary Elections
The final report of the long-term and short-term “Akanates” (“Eyewitness”) Observation Mission of the 2018 Snap Parliamentary Elections in Armenia presents findings from the pre-election period and Election Day observation, the complaint process based on registered violations, as well as the results of electronic monitoring of voting numbers. According to this report, the 2018 elections […]
“We have observed the best performed elections in decades”
Independent citizen observer groups praise the overall calm and fair conduct of the early parliamentary elections held in Armenia on 9 December 2018. “The voting process throughout Armenia was generally calm and conducted in accordance with the law, however few serious incidents were recorded” said Sona Ayvazyan, director of Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center and […]
Calm and competitive atmosphere during campaign, but several violations
Picture source: Media Center Armenia Observers find general atmosphere of election campaign for the 9 December early parliamentary elections in Armenia calm and competitive, but also note several violations. “The general atmosphere of the election campaign has been calm, and there has been no mass prevalence of violations like previously, e.g. threats, vote […]