PRELIMINARY AGREEMENT ON ARMENIAN ELECTION LAW?

The parliamentary parties on 8 September reached unanimous agreement that 101 seats in the future legislature are to be allocated by proportional representation and only 30 in single-mandate constituencies, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported, citing the 9 September "Aravot." That agreements ends months of disagreement between the majority Yerkrapah union of war veterans, the largest group within the parliament, and most other parties. Yerkrapah had insisted that most seats be allocated under the majority system. It was also agreed that electoral commissions will continue to be formed only on a partisan basis and that army personnel be entitled to vote only in the precincts where they were registered prior to entering the army. LF