Venice Commission, OSCE/ODIHR delegation to visit Armenia to discuss new draft electoral code
YEREVAN. March 5 (Interfax) - A delegation of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) will visit Armenia on March 14-17 to discuss a draft of Armenia's new electoral code, Armenian Justice Minister Arpine Hovhannisyan told journalists.
The Armenian government had earlier forwarded the draft to Venice Commission experts.
The government had endorsed the draft at a session on Thursday. David Harutyunyan, the minister and chief of the Armenian government secretariat, had said that, with the draft's endorsement, public debates on a new electoral code should start in the country.
The new electoral code has been drawn up based on the results of a referendum on constitutional reforms held in December 2015, which envisions the country's transition to a parliamentary form of government.
The document published by the Venice Commission stipulates that the Armenian parliament would consist of at least 101 parliamentarians representing not less than three political forces.
The draft also envisions the organization of the second round of parliamentary elections if none of the political parties running in elections gets a stable majority of 54% of the mandates in the first round or if such a majority is not formed within three days after the preliminary distribution of mandates resulting from the conclusion of a coalition agreement.
The draft also stipulates that voter lists will not be made public, contrary to what the opposition demanded earlier.