The RA National Assembly today began to hold hearings on the issue of whether the country’s electoral system should be majoritarian or proportionally based.

The hearings were jointly proposed by the ARF, Heritage and Prosperous Armenia parties.

Also participating in the debate are representatives of the Armenian National Congress, the Free-Democrats, and parties headed by Paruyr Hayrikyan and Khosrov Harutyunyan. A number of civic organizations are also represented.

Samvel Nikoyan, the parliament president, opened the hearings by saying that it didn’t matter what system was used since it wouldn’t affect the quality of elections. After this declaration, Nikoyan left the chamber.

ARF MP Armen Rustamyan then took the floor and stated that most political forces in Armenia had come around to agreeing with the idea of holding elections on the proportional system and that the only holdout was the ruling Republican Party.

“Democratic elections take place in all democratic nations, but in Armenia elections on the majoritarian system only serve to reproduce the ruling regime. In Armenia, the majoritarian system is anti-democratic,” Rustamyan said.