IF POLITICAL WILL LACKS, ACTIVE SOCIETY IS REQUIRED

Shavarsh Kocharyan, the leader of the National Democratic Party told news reporters October 31 at the Pastark Club that the Electoral Code is a necessary but insufficient condition for holding free and fair elections, “The government and the opposition should also dislay political will.” The leader of the National Democratic Party says the best election was held in 1990 in accordance with the Soviet laws. Shavarsh Kocharyan can see, however, that the government’s statement on holding fair elections and their actions do not match, and even contradict each other.
Besides political will, as preconditions for fair elections, Shavarsh Kocharyan proposes the following: a proportional system of election, “those post-Soviet countries, which are on the track for democracy, chose this system, those who head for a tyranny, have a majority system”; a balanced staff of the electoral commissions, “12 members, including 6 pro-governmental, 6 oppositionist members”. The chairs of half of the commissions should be pro-governmental, the other half should be opposition. On our request Shavarsh Kocharyan dispersed the worries of Republican Samvel Nikoyan that in the pre-election stage it is difficult to indicate who is government and who is opposition.
“The government is who formed the government. Today they are the Republican Party, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun, the United Labor Party,” clarified Shavarsh Kocharyan. The National Democratic Party also stresses expanding the rights of the observers. All this is set down in the draft electoral code worked out by the National Democratic Party. The political party circulated this bill in March, but so far it has not been discussed and was not even assumed as an alternative.
Meanwhile, the draft code put forward by the government contains dangerous points. For instance, the code provides for putting the ballot in an envelope before dropping it into the ballot box. Shavarsh Kocharyan would accept this if there were not for a loophole. It is mentioned in the electoral code that the ballots with additional markings on it and the incompliant envelopes are invalid. “In other words, if I write “Shavarsh Kocharyan” on the envelope, it will not be considered as invalid,” stated Shavarsh Kocharyan, adding that thereby they can control the voters. The National Democratic Party and the Commission of Venice propose that the Central Electoral Committee should be in charge of printing and delivering the ballots. However, the others propose that the 41 divisional committees share this responsibility. “This facilitates large-scale electoral fraud.”
The draft code proposed by the government contains another danger. If so far the members of the commission, the proxies and the observers could watch all the moves of the voter except for the act of marking the ballot, now the government proposes returning to the closed boots where the actions of the voter cannot be watched. In other words, a voter can replace the ballot with another one he brought in his pocket, or take a picture of the ballot with his phone camera and show it to the “boss who he voted for”. “In authoritarian systems the government does not display political will. Therefore, an active society is required,” concluded Shavarsh Kocharyan.

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