Govt refuses to debate full shift to proportional electoral systemFebruary 9, 2012 - 12:42 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - At February 9 sitting, the government of Armenia turned down the parliamentarians’ initiative to debate a full shift to proportional electoral system. According to First Deputy Minister of Justice Grigor Muradyan, to Armenia, as a country with semi-presidential form of government, parallel implementation of majority and proportional systems guarantee the interests of a larger part of society will be represented at parliament. The official, however, supports prevalence of proportional system, as the National Assembly of Armenia is mainly represented by parties. Muradyan deems introduction of changes to Electoral Code on the threshold of parliamentary elections an unreasonable step. On February 1, RA NA standing committee on state and legal affairs scheduled parliamentary hearings on a full shift to proportional electoral system for February 15. On January 26, Prosperous Armenia coalition party jointly with Heritage and ARF Dashnaktsutyun opposition parties requested Armenian National Assembly speaker Samvel Nikoyan and the chairman of NA standing committee on state and legal affairs David Harutyunyan to organize parliamentary hearings on full shift to proportional electoral system. On December 27, Heritage and ARF Dashnaktsutyun opposition parties issued a joint statement urging for a full shift to proportional system. Top stories President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Partner news | Ameriabank's Trade Finance portfolio enriched with four prestigious awards from EBRD and IFC Ameriabank received the awards from international financial institutions in recognition of its trade finance operations. Armenian Economy Minister to make trip to UAE May 20-22 A delegation led by Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan will travel to the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi on May 20-22 Armenian PM sends condolences to Iran Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent a message of condolence to the Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Armenia, Turkey discuss restoration of historic bridge The meeting took place on May 17 in Ashgabat on the sidelines of an international conference of ministers of culture. |