Documents

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 round” vote is held. 

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 is now considering waiving their exemption to the current 12-year term limit and has applied to the Venice Commission for an official Opinion on the modified approach.

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 on their adherence to stricter transparency rules on party finances and a 40% gender quota.

This comparative analysis by Tatyana Hilscher-Bogussevich of conditions for citizen election observers in the Eastern Neighborhood has found that Russia ranks the worst since there are no legal provisions allowing for civil society to be directly accredited as election observers. There is a similarly restrictive environment in Azerbaijan and Belarus. Other countries of the region rank better and generally facilitate citizen observation, however issues still remain. This study is a first in a series based on the newly launched Catalogue of Recommendations on Electoral Reform.

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 the observation, based on which a number of recommendations are presented.

The Draft Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia was adopted by the National Assembly of Armenia in its third reading on May 25, 2016. Unfortunately, neither the proposals submitted by the political forces and civil society, nor the recommendations on 2012 parliamentary and 2013 presidential elections by OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission and on 2015 referendum by Referendum Expert Team and considerable part of the recommendations put forward in the Preliminary Joint Opinion on the Draft Electoral Code of Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR failed to be considered.