On March 9, the Armenian National Assembly’s My Step (Im Kayl) faction introduced a package of draft amendments to the laws annexed to the Electoral Code, which proposes a full transition to the proportional electoral system, excluding the current rating system.

At an earlier Q&A session in the parliament, Prime Minister Pashinyan mentioned his intention to hold extraordinary parliamentary elections based on a fully proportional electoral system. It is not clear yet whether other changes will be made before the elections or not. Parliamentary elections in Armenia are scheduled for June this year.

Here are some key points of the package. 

The amendments propose to reduce the deposits paid by parties and party blocs running in parliamentary elections. According to the current law, parties must pay 10 million drams. The bill would decrease this to 7.5 million. Blocs would pay15 million drams.

The bill would reduce the threshold needed to enter parliament for parties from 5% to 4%. For party alliances, the threshold would increase from 7% to 8%, and in the case of an alliance of three parties the threshold would be 9%, and in the case of an alliance of more than 4 parties – 10%:

Free public TV access to parties would increase from sixty to ninety minutes. Free public radio time would increase from 120 to 180 minutes.

During Council of Elders (municipal council) elections in communities with more than 70,000 voters, and for National Assembly elections, Public Television will organize televised debates during the election campaign, ensuring equal conditions of participation for all parties (party alliances). In the case of the National Assembly elections, the number of televised debates shall not be less than four, with each lasting at least 90 minutes, and in at least one only the candidates of the first rank of the party (party bloc) electoral lists would be invited to participate.

The bill would prohibit advertisements to be run during radio and TV programs related to the election campaign.

Citizens of the Republic of Armenia who have reached the age of 18 and who have a valid identity document during the six months prior to election day will have the right to vote.

The signed lists of voters who took part in National Assembly elections will be published on the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) website within two days after the vote. The signed voter lists will be taken to the National Archives for safekeeping.

The bill would prohibit the receipt of donations from foreign countries, international organizations, foreign legal or natural persons for the purpose of participating in the election campaign or to use the received donations for the election campaign.