“There are no criteria that entitle the chairman of the polling station commission to decide which observer or which journalist has the right to work in the polling station,” stated Naira Zohrabyan, the Chairperson of Prosperous Armenia party at the public discussion on the Draft Electoral Code organized by RA Ministry of Justice. According to her there are some artificial restrictions in the Code: “There are a lot of technical confusions. Why everywhere? As far as I understood in 15 constituencies. Why can’t a person run in more than one constituency according to rating? For example I would like to nominate for election in rating system in all constituencies. Why shouldn’t the candidate have the right to nominate in more than one constituency?” Ms Zohrabyan said.
Minister-Chief of Staff of RA Government David Harutyunyan told that before they had had some problems with the involvement of the observers and media. According to Mr. Harutyunyan the candidates’ proxies come to the polling station with the journalist accreditation and carry out observations and vice versa. Mr. Harutyunyan said that the problem is widespread, so the restrictions and standards are inevitable.
And why the same person shouldn’t be involved in more than one polling station – is a principle issue for him. They decided to strengthen the political system in the country.
