Elinar Vardanyan: “To remain faithful to the principles and dignity…”

Elinar Vardanyan is the first woman candidate of the list of the alliance of “Ohanyan- Raffi -Oskanian” (ORO) and the community recognizes her as an MP, who is also the head of the NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights. In 2012 she was elected by proportional electoral system from “Prosperous Armenia” party and until then had  actively been engaged in social activities. In 2016 because of disagreements among a group of colleagues she makes a decision to leave the party ranks and join the new party –  Vartan Oskanian’s “Union”, and today she is a deputy president of that party. During her parliamentary activity she has repeatedly been raising on issues related to women and gender equality, protect the law “On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men” calling it a “step forward”, the need and the necessity for a long time. She was also a supporter of the idea of ​​raising gender quota in the Electoral Code and one of the deputies who consistently opposed the delay of the 30/70 proportion to year 2021.

• Vardanyan, you have been a pretty active deputy, and now you want to be re-elected. Why, what goals do you set for yourself this time …?

– Many problems remain unsolved in our country, which have been the focus of my attention all these years, towards which I have been working. I want to continue to work in order to be in harmony with my conscience. We do not have such Armenia yet, where the focus is on a human being, around which the rest of the relationship develops. We still do not have a country where everyone is equal before the law, and there are no people who are “more equal” before the law. We do not have a country where there is a fair judicial system, where human rights are protected, the problems of socio-economic equal competition and problems in many other industries are solved…

– What are, in your opinion, our three priority problems for the country that you and your political team are intending to  resolve?

Security increase, deep economic reform, a change in the social atmosphere, free and competitive society. To solve these problems  concrete steps are needed which we presented in our election program, which are based on precise calculations and which can be achieved in a realistic period of time.

Full text in Armenian