Friday, May 27 2016 09:02

 The new Electoral Code not only fails to enhance public confidence in electoral processes, but also disappoints the citizens even more, Heritage Party says in a statement.   

"The May 25 voting in the Parliament demonstrated that the four-day war has not changed the authorities' intention to retain grip on power by means of electoral fraud," the statement says, noting that by rejecting the opposition's proposals, the authorities demonstrated their reluctance to hold free and fair elections.   

Heritage also thinks that the Electoral Code was adopted without consolidation of political and public forces. "The draft code provides a lot of opportunities for fraud and manipulations during the electoral processes," the authors of the statement say, stressing that "the ruling party and its satellites" are responsible for the negative phenomena that may arise due to the new Code.   

To note, on May 25 the Armenian Parliament adopted the new Electoral Code in the third reading by 102 votes. The new Code was adopted on the threshold of the regular parliamentary elections of 2017. The new Code was elaborated with due regard for the constitutional reform that implies transition from presidential to parliamentary regime. The opposition says that the new Electoral Code fails to settle the problems raised by the OSCE, the society and political forces.