Yerevan, 30th September: At its extraordinary sitting on 30th
September, the Central Electoral Commission [CEC] adopted a
decision "On registration of candidates for the posts of head
of community and member of the council of elders" in connection
with the forthcoming elections for the local self-government
bodies on 24th October [1999]. This decision consolidates an
order, according to which the registration of candidates will
be implemented in accordance with Article 122 of Armenian
Electoral Code, which says that the issue of registration of
candidates, who do not have a residence permit in a given
community for the last year, cannot be put up for discussion
and voting.
The draft decision triggered off a stormy discussion. The
coauthor of the Electoral Code and deputy chairman of the
parliamentary standing commission on state and legal issues,
Viktor Dallakyan, who was invited to the sitting, said that in
accordance with the Electoral Code the aforementioned
limitation does not come into force until 1st April 2000 and,
hence, the demand for a one-year residence permit is not
appropriate at the forthcoming elections on 24th October and
should be ignored, i.e. any citizen of the Republic of Armenia
can be proposed for the elections of the heads of community and
members of the council of elders of every community. [Passage
omitted: majority of CEC members did not agree with Dallakyan;
Dallakyan said the CEC has no mandate to interpret the
constitution and laws]
By a majority of votes the CEC rejected another draft,
according to which it was proposed to ignore the aforementioned
limitation just for the candidates for the posts of prefect and
members of Yerevan's council of elders, because Yerevan is one
community consisting of 12 areas.
The CEC decided to postpone until 10th October the issue
of the voting system for servicemen, which was on the agenda.
The CEC will appeal to parliament to clarify this issue because
the CEC believes that the Electoral Code does not clarify the
voting system for servicemen and people who are in places of
confinement. But Dallakyan was of another opinion. Dallakyan
told journalists that army personnel have no right [as given,
actually they have the right] to vote where they are stationed,
but only in their places of registration: the voting rights of
these people can be implemented at the discretion of the head
of military unit because "the whole army cannot be disbanded
for the elections".
Source:
Noyan Tapan news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 0855 gmt
01 Oct 99
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