Changes to the Electoral Code Before Elections: Discussion

Today, the National Assembly held an extraordinary session. One of the agenda items is the draft law on amendments and changes to the constitutional law "Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia." The proposed changes include:

1. Clearly defining the prohibition of having any items in hand, apart from the ballot envelope of the Chairman of the Commission when opening the ballot box.
2. Expanding the grounds for declaring ballots invalid in the case of elections for the National Assembly and local councils conducted by proportional representation.
3. In cases of voting envelopes containing unnecessary notes or items besides the prescribed ballot, the ballot should be immediately annulled, so that it is possible to confirm the basis for the annulment during a recount.
4. Summarizing that the annulled prescribed ballots will be counted as invalid when summarizing the results.
5. Removing the second sentence from paragraph 2 of Article 81 of the Code, which stated that the names of all parties in a coalition must be indicated in brackets under the name of the coalition.
6. Adding a new second paragraph to Article 81, restoring the content that states: “The name of the party coalition cannot include personal names, names of state and local self-government bodies or names that resemble them to the extent of causing confusion. The name of the party coalition cannot contain offensive or defamatory words or expressions.”

The proposed amendments aim to restore the internal coherence of the Code, legal certainty, and harmony between existing regulations. This is stated in the justification of the draft.