Heritage party leader Raffi Hovannisian proposed that inter-party agreement to counter election forgery is signed by top three members of each political force running for the parliament.

At the same time, he supported the viewpoint of David Harutyunyan, member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia who said such initiatives should not become a PR promotion for any political force.

Hovannisian said if signed by top three members of parties’ electoral lists, this agreement is sure to be implemented.

When asked whether Heritage is going to join the RPA-proposed parliamentary structure to tackle potential electoral violations, the party leader said: “We do not want to waste time; still, we want to use all opportunities.”

According to him, any inter-party agreements set to regulate electoral violations must clearly specify the criteria of recognizing the elections as failed.

In this case, Hovannisian stated, the country will face an emergency situation and special parliamentary and presidential elections will need to be organized. Among criteria he highlighted transparency of financial resources of each candidate party, equal media propaganda opportunities, ruling out of electoral bribes and electoral lists’ “clean off”.

Representatives of five political forces (ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), Prosperous Armenia, Armenian National Congress (ANC) opposition bloc, Heritage and ARF Dashnaktsutyun parties) running for the forthcoming parliamentary elections discussed on April 4 the establishment of a single inter-party headquarters to counter election forgery. The idea was suggested by head of Political Analysts Union Hmayak Hovhannisyan. All forces agreed to sign the document except for the RPA.

Parliamentary elections are due in Armenia on May 6 featuring 8 political parties (Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), Prosperous Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD), Orinats Yerkir, Heritage, Democratic Party of Armenia (DPA), Communist Party of Armenia and United Armenian party, as well as one election bloc represented by opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC).