1 / 3

On March 1, the Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs Vladimir Vardanyan, the Deputy Chair Anna Karapetyan and the members of the Committee met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Armenia Jonathan Lacôte, the members of the Delegation of the State Council of France Yves Doutriaux and Yves Gounin and the representatives of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), who are in our country at the invitation of the USAID within the framework of the programme Strengthening of Electoral Processes and Political Accountability .

At the guests’ request the Committee members touched upon the steps to be taken in the constitutional reforms, as well as the reforms of the Electoral Code and the fight against corruption. According to them, during the meetings in those days in Armenia they have recorded that the main problems particularly related to the rating electoral system, the short term established for the solution of the electoral disputes and the financing of the political forces during the pre-electoral period. The foreign guests presented the peculiarities of legal systems of France and Switzerland, expressing readiness for cooperation and exchange of experience.

Vladimir Vardanyan has underlined that in case of necessity of constitutional reforms the authorities of our country are ready to further improve the Mother Law of the country, taking into consideration that as a result of constitutional reforms, the legislation has become more flexible, and the parliament can initiate them through the relevant procedure.

According to the Committee Chair, the reforms of the Electoral Code are on the agenda of the National Assembly, as during the previous elections a number of problems with the need of urgent solution have emerged. He has particularly distinguished the rating electoral system, which does not allow getting concentrated on the inter-party fight. In the issue of the effective implementation of the Electoral Code reforms the speaker underlined the international colleagues’ support, highlighting the fact that the proposed mechanisms, being based on the international criteria, would take into consideration the national peculiarities.

“In this phase we try to create legal basis for the implementation of the economic revolution, as it is not possible to build regular economic relations, not having a stable legal system based on the rule of law,” the Committee Chair documented.

Vladimir Vardanyan also touched upon the legal regulations being implemented in the prevention of corruption, the activation of dissemination of fake information in the pre-electoral period and other issues.

The Committee members underscored the necessity of favourable and continuous cooperation, emphasizing the study of the past path of the countries with effective experience in the implementation of the legal sphere reforms.