Early elections in Armenia: will political component weaken?

The dissolution of the Armenian parliament, which has started with the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on October 16, was completed, but the National Assembly (NA) failed to accept the amendments to the Electoral Code (EC) at two meetings convened on October 22 and 29.  Furthermore, on October 29 they were only one vote away from adopting the new EC, as it was supported by 62 deputies. In both cases, the faction of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) did not participate in the voting.

Some observers accused the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun of sabotaging the adoption of a package of reforms to the EC, two of seven deputies were absent on October 29. Today, over 60 parliamentarians are currently under the Nikola Pashinyan government's control: the Yelk faction (Exit), representing the so-called minority government - 9 deputies, the Tsarukyan Bloc faction - 31 deputies, 18 people from the RPA and 7 deputies from the ARF.

Without going into detail of the use of the mobilization resource of all the listed political forces, let us turn to the events around the new EC. The leader of the velvet revolution, acting prime minister Nikol Pashinyan did not fulfill the second part of his main promise - holding extraordinary parliamentary elections as soon as possible, and in accordance with the new EC.

The reformed EC involves the final transition to a proportional system and the rejection of rating voting, which is a hidden manifestation of the majority system. The rating vote, fixed in the current EC, within which the early elections scheduled for December 9 will be held, opens up opportunities for the members of the criminal-oligarchic system to penetrate the National Assembly.

According to some experts, people with large financial capabilities have a noticeable advantage in conducting the election campaign in large-scale districts of Armenia.

For this category of people, it is not difficult to form a large team and their money into votes. Given the real authority of these candidates (especially if they are non-partisan), their election campaign could do without handing out bribes to voters. First of all, we are talking about the regions of the country, from where about 2/3 of deputies are elected.

The RPA's hopes, which has consistently opposed the new EC, are linked to this category of candidates and, accordingly, with the rating vote. Due to the presence of a rating vote, the RPA may theoretically remain in the political field.

Of course, holding the early parliamentary election in accordance with the current EC will not prevent the victory of Pashinyan and his team in the December 9 election. However, the penetration of representatives of the criminal-oligarchic system into the parliament will weaken the political component of the elections and the National Assembly itself, as well as hinder the recovery of electoral processes expected by the society.