“Ensuring not less than 30/70 proportion of women and men in the lists of political parties”

This proposal was presented today during a public discussion on the draft of the new Electoral Code, organized with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, the Ministry of Justice. It was attended by Minister-Chief of Government Staff David Harutyunyan, Minister of Justice Arpine Hovhannisyan, Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, Barbara Davis, as well as representatives of NGOs and political parties.

Along with many other issues related to the draft Electoral Code also raised the issue of expanding women’s political participation. Speaking on behalf of the Gender Theme Group co-chaired by UN, OSCE and government representatives, Tamara Hovnatanyan ( “ProMedia Gender” NGO) said that before the publication of the draft Electoral Code Group submitted new proposals to the Council of equal rights and opportunities for men and women attached to the Prime Minister is now going to send them to the National Assembly. The proposals provide for certain changes in the Electoral Code to enhance the representation of women on the lists of parties.

In particular, it is proposed to review the proportion of men and women in Article 84 (Paragraph 3 of the new draft Electoral Code 9) making it 30/70, instead of the 20/80. She noted that the proposal was made on the basis of the previous analysis of the election results, as well as national and international documents.

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