“Open lists are the biggest obstacle to women’s participation”

As we know, the process of reforming electoral legislation has begun in Armenia. According to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s decision, a commission on reform of electoral legislation has been created. A working group has been formed in the National Assembly for the same purpose.

Recently, during the discussion at the “Article 3” club, Secretary of the Electoral Legislation Reform Commission under the RA Prime Minister Daniel Ioannisian said that they envision more than 50 changes, including the amendment of the electoral system. According to him, the content changes can be divided into several directions.

“In fact, the concerns that civil society has with respect to the territorial rating system are also extended to the national rating system. That’s why I can say that many representatives of the civil society support the purely proportional electoral system “said Ioannisyan.

The next bundle of change concerns the prevention of violations during the elections, the control mechanisms, the voter lists, elimination of violations during the vote count, which will contribute to increased confidence in the elections.

According to Vardine Grigoryan, a member of the Commission on Electoral Legislation under the Prime Minister, the proportional electoral list will complicate the situation.

1. Grigoryan attached importance to women’s participation in the elections and said that the presence of open lists would be the biggest obstacle for women. “No one can force people to vote for women, but such a result can be ensured by increasing quotas,” she said.

It should be noted that a number of organizations have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister’s Electoral Legislation Reform Commission and the working group formed to reform electoral legislation in the RA National Assembly, expressing concern that the use of any “open” lists during the proportional election is a serious and insurmountable obstacle for candidates.

Full text in Armenian