On May 17, the Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs Vladimir Vardanyan met with Alexander Shlyk, Head of the Election Department of the Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR) and ODIHR Elections Adviser Alexey Gromov.

The report of the Observation Mission on the snap elections of the RA National Assembly was debated, where it was noted that the means of prevention aimed at the abuse of the administrative resources were made strict with the amendments made in the Electoral Code and relevant legislation, the restrictions being used towards the mass media representatives and stricter punitive measures and surcharges were established for electoral fraud.

Vladimir Vardanyan highlighted the necessity of decent assessment on the electoral processes. He noted that a legislative draft law was presented by the Government on 17 October 2018, and its goal was to change the electoral system, making a transition to proportional electoral system and invest a number of amendments. However, the draft did not receive the three fifth of the demanding votes.

The Committee Chair has informed that the NA cooperates with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES): from June debates on electoral reforms are designed.

The sides expressed hope that the reforms would promote holding decent elections in the future.