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Friday, 01 October 2004

ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS VOW TO CONTINUE BOYCOTT OF PARLIAMENT

Published in News Digest

By empty (10/1/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Armenian opposition leaders criticized on 30 September the parliamentary debate on amendments to the country\'s Electoral Code and vowed to continue their boycott of parliament, RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau reported. Opposition Artarutiun (Justice) alliance deputy Grigor Harutiunian dismissed the parliamentary debate as insincere and added that \"the obedient majority would block any real change.\" The debate centers on amendments to election laws drafted by the pro-government majority seeking to modify the composition of state-appointed election commissions.
Armenian opposition leaders criticized on 30 September the parliamentary debate on amendments to the country\'s Electoral Code and vowed to continue their boycott of parliament, RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau reported. Opposition Artarutiun (Justice) alliance deputy Grigor Harutiunian dismissed the parliamentary debate as insincere and added that \"the obedient majority would block any real change.\" The debate centers on amendments to election laws drafted by the pro-government majority seeking to modify the composition of state-appointed election commissions. The amendments are tied to the findings of a February report by the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that concluded that the formation of the election commissions represents a \"serious obstacle to the impartiality of the electoral administration\" and recommended that \"in order to reduce the president\'s influence on the commissions\' work, the [presidential] administration should not have more than one representative in each election commission.\" The Armenian president has the power to appoint three of the nine-member Central Election Commission and its territorial divisions, with four other commission seats controlled by pro-presidential parties. (RFE/RL)
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